Friendly Between Arsenal and Vietnam in Jeopardy

The friendly between Arsenal and Vietnam is in a state of limbo after stadium owners raised fees for the match.

Touted as the first Premier League team to visit Vietnam, Arsenal had planned to play the Vietnam national team at the 40,000 seat My Dinh stadium in Hanoi on July 17.

According to organizers, the stadium had agreed on a price of VND1 billion ($47,549) but recently hiked the fee up to VND1.5 billion ($71,300) - more than seven times the normal price:

“It’s sad that the My Dinh Stadium [management] took advantage of this occasion to rip off the match organizers… It’s not fair play to push the rent up to VND1.5 billion. We can’t accept such inflated prices.”

Said Le Hung Dung, vice chairman of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) and chairman of Eximbank – one of the two sponsors for Arsenal's trip to Vietnam, said Thursday.

He added that if the stadium continues to demand these fees, the match could be canceled.

Can Van Nghia, director of the 40,000-seat national stadium, didn’t agree with Dung’s assessment, saying that owners were not profiteering from the high-profile game:

"All money is being used to renovate the stadium, this is a historic game and we have to prepare for that."

With ticket prices reaching up to VND1.5 million ($720), it seems unlikely that the stadium would be full on the day of the match. But if previous matches are any indication, if/when the match does occur, much of the country would shut down as every café and bar would be showing the game.

Vietnam deserves more premium sporting events. Hopefully these disagreements will be worked out and the match can proceed.

[The Diplomat]