FAT Vice President sends letter of apology to Vietnam Football Federation

(Dan Tri) - On the afternoon of October 29, at the headquarters of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), FAT Vice President Adisak Benjasiriwan had a meeting and explained to VFF leaders about the incident of mistakenly displaying the Vietnamese national flag.

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The incident of mistakenly displaying the Vietnamese national flag at the draw ceremony for the 2025 Southeast Asian Futsal U16 and U19 Championships organized by the Football Association of Thailand on the afternoon of October 28 in Bangkok (Thailand). The meeting was witnessed by the Secretary General of the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) - Mr. Winston Lee.

Vice President of the Football Association of Thailand presented the letter of apology from the Football Association of Thailand to President of the Vietnam Football Association Tran Quoc Tuan. At the beginning of the meeting, Vice President Adisak Benjasiriwan read the official letter of apology from the President of the Football Association of Thailand to the Vietnam Football Association. In the letter, the President of the Football Association of Thailand expressed his deep regret and sincere apology for the unfortunate incident related to the misplacement of the Vietnamese national flag in the draw ceremony for the 2025 Southeast Asian Men's U19 Futsal Championship.

The President of the Football Association of Thailand affirmed: “We are fully aware of the seriousness of this mistake and take full responsibility for the incident that occurred. The Football Association of Thailand has immediately taken corrective measures, reviewed and tightened the event organization process, to ensure that similar mistakes will not recur.”

The letter stressed: “The Football Association of Thailand would like to sincerely apologize to the Vietnam Football Federation, the ASEAN Football Federation and all relevant parties for this incident. We appreciate your continued sympathy and support, and affirm our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of professionalism and respect in all AFF events hosted by Thailand.”

On the evening of October 28, the official fanpage of the Football Federation of Thailand also posted a press release apologizing to the Vietnam Football Federation and Vietnamese fans. The release stated: “The Football Federation of Thailand sincerely hopes that the Vietnam Football Federation and the Vietnamese people will accept our apology and sympathize with this unintentional error – a human error, completely without the intention of disrespecting the country of Vietnam. This is an important lesson for us to be more careful and serious in all organizational processes, in order to maintain the highest standards that the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) expects from us as the host country.”

On the side of the Vietnam Football Federation, we acknowledge the sincere apology of the Football Federation of Thailand and highly appreciate the proactive, open-minded and respectful spirit of the Football Federation of Thailand. The Vietnam Football Federation considers this a serious mistake and affirms that this is a profound lesson in the preparation and organization of international events, aiming to improve the professionalism of the competition system of the Southeast Asian Football Federation.

Representatives of the Football Association of Thailand pledged not to let similar mistakes happen in the future, and expressed their desire to continue to maintain a cooperative relationship and closely coordinate with the Vietnam Football Association in activities to develop football in the Southeast Asian region to become increasingly professional and sustainable.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/pho-chu-tich-fat-trao-thu-xin-loi-den-lien-doan-bong-da-viet-nam-20251029172216277.htm