Thailand team plays AFF Cup at Hang Day, Viet Tri stadium is reserved for Vietnam

Timor Leste was the last team to qualify for the 2024 AFF Cup after defeating Brunei in the play-off match. According to the draw results, they are in Group A along with Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Cambodia.

The Timor Leste national team will host Thailand and Singapore at home on December 8th and 14th, and play away against Malaysia and Cambodia on December 11th and 17th, respectively.

Therefore, the Thai and Singaporean national teams will play at Hang Day Stadium in the group stage of the AFF Cup 2024 as the away team. The home team in these matches will be Timor Leste. Previously, the Timor Leste Football Federation rented Viet Tri Stadium as their home ground because the stadiums in their country did not meet AFF standards.

The Hang Day Stadium, considered to have fairly good turf, is currently the home ground of Hanoi Police FC and Hanoi FC in the V-League.

However, things changed when the Vietnamese national team was unable to choose My Dinh Stadium (Hanoi) as their home ground. The reason was the "Anh Trai Say Hi" music event, scheduled to take place there on December 7th, just 8 days before the match between Vietnam and Indonesia. Organizing this event would inevitably compromise the quality of the My Dinh Stadium's turf. Furthermore, according to AFF regulations, the pitch must be meticulously maintained for at least 3 weeks before official matches.

Therefore, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) had to send a request to the AFF to change the home stadium (from My Dinh to Viet Tri) and it was approved. Currently, Viet Tri stadium is scheduled to host four group stage matches of the 2024 AFF Cup: two for the Vietnamese national team and two for the Timor Leste national team. This could affect the quality of the pitch, leading to compromised professional standards for the matches. That is why the Timor Leste Football Federation had to choose Hang Day stadium as their home ground.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/doi-tuyen-thai-lan-da-aff-cup-o-hang-day-san-viet-tri-danh-han-cho-viet-nam-185241117164312192.htm