SEA Games 33 Organizing Committee has confusing move regarding national flag mistake

The 33rd SEA Games organizing committee has yet to explain the national flag mistake in women's futsal involving Vietnam.

On December 2, Matichon newspaper suddenly reported on serious mistakes by the SEA Games 33 Organizing Committee.

Specifically, in the women's futsal competition schedule, the 33rd SEA Games Organizing Committee incorrectly placed the national flags of both Indonesia and Thailand. In the information section for Indonesia, the Organizing Committee used the national flag of Laos, while in the box for Thailand, it used the flag of Vietnam.

SEA Games 33 organizers confused the national flag in women's futsal (Screenshot).

The incident of confusing the national flag on the media publications of the 33rd SEA Games is making fans in the region unhappy. Surprisingly, the mistake originated from the official Facebook page of the games, where absolute accuracy in all information should be ensured.

Despite the mistake, the SEA Games 33 Organizing Committee has yet to provide any explanation.

It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time Thailand has been involved in a controversy related to the national flag mistake. More than a month ago, they mistakenly used the Chinese flag in the draw named after Vietnam at the 2025 Southeast Asian U19 futsal tournament.

It was thought that would be an expensive lesson for Thailand, but right before the 33rd SEA Games started, they made another mistake and this incident was even more serious.

Although the 33rd SEA Games has not yet opened, the Organizing Committee is facing many problems. Most recently, a famous Thai fan club - Ultras Thailand - announced a boycott of the entire tournament to protest the regulations related to football tickets and the requirement for spectators to register their personal information.

In social media posts, the Ultras Thailand group stressed that the main reason for turning their backs on the 33rd SEA Games was the ticket receiving process set by the Organizing Committee and the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT).

This group of fans believes that requiring spectators to provide a lot of personal data to enter the stadium "infringes on the basic freedoms of sports fans" and potentially exposes personal information.

Ultras Thailand group boycotts SEA Games 33.

Not stopping there, Ultras Thailand also asked SAT to cancel the plan to arrange away fans in the stands behind the goal – an area that is considered to limit visibility and reduce the cheering experience. The group believes that this arrangement is unfair and not suitable for a regional tournament like the SEA Games.

Previously, the director assigned to design the opening and closing ceremonies of the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand - Ruangrit Santisuk also spoke out to accuse the Organizing Committee of working unprofessionally when canceling the entire project that he and his crew had prepared for 7 months to replace it with a new team.

According to him, during the implementation process, the group had to face a small budget, even lower than the budget for some festivals and entertainment events taking place at the same time.

Despite the difficulties, the team still worked hard because they wanted to bring a new opening ceremony that would reflect the diversity of Thai culture. But they were eventually informed that a new team had come to survey Rajamangala Stadium and work with the old management.

Due to the lack of transparency, they were forced to stop all preparations. To date, the group has not received any cancellation or confirmation.

Source: https://baoxaydung.vn/ban-to-chuc-sea-games-33-co-dong-thai-kho-hieu-vu-nham-quoc-ky-192251203114908025.htm