Thailand will come to Vietnam to apologize for the incident of mistaking the Vietnamese flag at the Futsal Tournament draw.

The Football Association of Thailand (FAT) has issued a press release apologizing for the mistake of the Vietnamese national flag during the draw for the 2025 Southeast Asian Futsal Championship. FAT also confirmed that it will send a delegation to Vietnam on October 29 to apologize.

Incident of mistakenly displaying the Vietnamese national flag during the 2025 Southeast Asian Futsal Tournament draw - Screenshot

The content of the press release posted by FAT is as follows: "Press release of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) on the draw ceremony of the 2025 ASEAN U19 Futsal Championship. Mr. Adisak Benjasiriwan, Vice President of the Thai Futsal and Beach Soccer Federation (FAT), sent his sincere apologies to the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and the Vietnamese people after the unfortunate incident in which the national flag of the People's Republic of China was mistakenly hung instead of the Vietnamese flag during the draw ceremony of the 2025 ASEAN U19 Men's Futsal Championship, held on October 28. The tournament is scheduled to take place at the Nonthaburi Provincial Stadium, Thailand in December 2025.

FAT fully recognizes and deeply respects all member associations at all levels, as well as the importance of each nation's flag as a symbol of national identity.

Therefore, we express our deep regret for this mistake. Immediately after the incident occurred, FAT took decisive action by appointing a fact-finding committee to investigate and take disciplinary action against those responsible. Initial findings show that the error originated from the event organizer."

FAT added: "In addition, Ms. Nualphan Lamsam, President of the Football Federation of Thailand, has officially sent a letter of apology to both the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF). She also assigned Mr. Adisak Benjasiriwan - Vice President in charge of futsal and beach soccer, and the relevant delegation to personally go to Vietnam on October 29, 2025 to convey the Association's apology directly to the President and leaders of the Vietnam Football Federation.

The Football Association of Thailand sincerely hopes that the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and the Vietnamese people will accept our apology and forgive this unintentional human error, which was made with no intention of disrespecting the country of Vietnam.

This incident is an important lesson for the Thai FA to be more careful and diligent in all organizational processes, in order to maintain the highest standards that we expect as a host under the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF)."

QUOC THANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thailand-se-den-viet-nam-xin-loi-ve-su-co-nham-quoc-ky-viet-nam-o-le-boc-tham-giai-futsal-20251029024134958.htm