VFF informs about the working session with the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) after the incident of mistakenly using the national flag.

On the afternoon of October 29, at the headquarters of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), on behalf of the President of FAT, the working delegation led by Vice President Adisak Benjasiriwan had a meeting and explained to the leaders of VFF about the incident of incorrectly displaying the Vietnamese national flag at the draw ceremony of the 2025 Southeast Asian U16 and U19 Futsal Championship. The meeting was witnessed by the General Secretary of the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) - Mr. Winston Lee.

At the beginning of the meeting, Vice President Adisak Benjasiriwan read the official apology letter from FAT President Madam Pang to VFF. In the letter, FAT President expressed his deep regret and sincere apology for the unfortunate incident related to the misplacement of the Vietnamese national flag during the draw ceremony for the 2025 Southeast Asian U19 Men's Futsal Championship.

Vice President of the Football Federation of Thailand delivered the apology letter of the Football Federation of Thailand to President of the Vietnam Football Federation Tran Quoc Tuan.

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

In the letter, the FAT President also emphasized that FAT would like to sincerely apologize to VFF, AFF and all relevant parties for this incident. FAT appreciates the sympathy and continuous support of the Federations, and affirms its 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 FAT also posted a press release apologizing to VFF and Vietnamese fans.

The statement stated: “FAT sincerely hopes that VFF and the Vietnamese people will accept our apology and sympathize with this unintentional error – a human error, completely without any intention of disrespecting 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 AFF expects from us as the host country.”

On the VFF side, President Tran Quoc Tuan acknowledged FAT's sincere apology and highly appreciated the proactive, open-minded and respectful spirit that FAT showed. VFF considered this a serious mistake and affirmed that this is a profound lesson in the preparation and organization of international events, aiming to improve the professionalism of the AFF competition system.

The FAT representative pledged not to let similar mistakes happen in the future, and expressed his desire to continue to maintain a cooperative relationship and closely coordinate with the AFF in activities to develop football in the Southeast Asian region to become increasingly professional and sustainable.

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/vff-thong-tin-ve-buoi-lam-viec-voi-lien-doan-bong-da-thai-lan-fat-sau-su-co-nham-quoc-ky-20251029173738576.htm