USD5 MILLION FOR THANG LONG-HANOI FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

HANOI (30 Jan 2010) – Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism along with the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) have agreed in principle to set aside between VND80 to VND100 billion (over USD5 million) for the Thang Long – Hanoi Football Championship later in the year.

The meet, which is being used to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi has been scheduled to run from 20 September 2010 to 2 October 2010 in Hanoi, Danang and HCM City.

Hoang Tuan Anh, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism has agreed on the plan with the organizing committee already set to invite nine teams for the event.

In Hanoi, where the Vietnam national squad will play, organizers planned to invite the national teams of Australia, Kuwait, China, South Korea or Japan.

In HCM City, the Vietnam U23 Vietnam will be up against Venezuela, Iran, North Korea and the younger squad of either Brazil or Argentina.

In Danang, guest teams will be the three top football clubs in Southeast Asia.

In the meantime, the VFF have offered a higher salary to current coach Henrique Calisto – from USD20,000 to USD22,000 per month.