On the afternoon of October 29, on behalf of the President of the Football Association of Thailand Nualphan Lamsam (Madam Pang), the FAT delegation led by Vice President Adisak Benjasiriwan had a meeting and explained to the leaders of the VFF about the incident of mistakenly displaying the Vietnamese national flag at the draw ceremony for the 2025 Southeast Asian U16 and U19 Futsal tournament, organized by FAT on the afternoon of October 28 in Bangkok (Thailand). The meeting was witnessed by the General Secretary of the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) - Mr. Winston Lee.

At the meeting, Mr. Adisak Benjasiriwan read the official apology letter from the FAT President to the VFF . In the letter, the head of FAT 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 U19 Men's Futsal Championship.

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FAT Vice President delivered FAT's apology letter to VFF President Tran Quoc Tuan. Photo: VFF

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

“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 understanding and support, and reaffirm our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of professionalism and respect in all AFF events hosted by Thailand,” Madam Pang wrote in the letter.

On the VFF side, the VFF leadership acknowledged the FAT's sincere apology and highly appreciated the proactive, open-minded, and respectful spirit that the FAT demonstrated. The VFF considered this a serious mistake and affirmed that the incident was a profound lesson in the preparation and organization of international events, aiming to improve the professionalism of the Southeast Asian Football Federation's competition system.

FAT representatives 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 VFF in activities to develop football in Southeast Asia to become increasingly professional and sustainable.

On the evening of October 28, the official fanpage of FAT posted a press release apologizing to VFF and Vietnamese fans. The release stated: “The Football Association 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 expects of us as the host country.”

Video of the representative of the Football Association of Thailand present at VFF:

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/vff-ghi-nhan-loi-xin-loi-cua-ldbd-thai-lan-vu-nham-quoc-ky-2457494.html