The delegation of AFC and VFF worked with 03 clubs on licensing

On April 13, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) held a meeting with representatives of Hai Phong Club and Viettel Club on issues related to the club licensing for the season 2023/2024.

  14/04/2023 17:42:23

The delegation, on the AFC side, included Mr. Pavel Luzanov – Deputy Director of Committee Strategy and Professional Football; Mr. Avi Gupta – Senior Manager Club Licensing Regulatory Unit. On the VFF side, there were Mr. Tran Anh Tu – VFF Vice President; Mr. Pham Ngoc Vien – Chairman of Licensing Committee; Mrs. Nguyen Thi My Dung – Deputy Chairman of Licensing Committee; Mr. Le Hoai Anh – Member of Licensing Committee; Mr. Duong Nghiep Khoi – VFF General Secretary; Mrs. Nguyen Thanh Ha – VFF Deputy General Secretary, Head of the VFF Licensing Adminstration Department; Mr. Nguyen Minh Ngoc – General Director of Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF); representative of VFF function departments.

At the meeting with Hai Phong Club, with the participation of representatives of Hai Phong Department of Culture and Sports, including Mrs. Pham Thi To Trang – Deputy Director of the Department; Mr. Nguyen Thanh Duong – Deputy Head of Sports Management; representatives of Hai Phong Club’s leaders include Mr. Van Tran Hoan – President of Hai Phong Football Club; Mr. Pham Cong Phuong – Executive Director of Hai Phong Football Club; Mr. Nguyen Phu Chien – Deputy Director of Hai Phong Football Club, AFC representative heard the club report on the progress of completing licensing criteria and solutions to consult from AFC and VFF.

In recent years, Hai Phong Club has had to regularly request for an exception policy to participate in the domestic and AFC’s competitions because the club did not meet some professional football club licensing criterias. At the meeting, after listening to the opinions of AFC, VFF and the Licensing Committee, representatives of Hai Phong Club and Hai Phong Department of Culture and Sports committed to implementing the youth training system, with the deadline is 31st December 2023.

Due to the recent achievements of Vietnamese football, in the 2023/2024 season, Vietnam will have 3 places to participate in the AFC club tournaments, including 1 slot in the AFC Champion League, 1 slot in AFC Champion League’s play-off and 1 slot in AFC Cup. With the sports achievements that Hai Phong has achieved in the V.League 2022, being the second-ranked team, Hai Phong is a candidate for the play-off of the AFC Champion League, the most prestigious club tournament in Asia. In addition to sports criteria, Hai Phong will be considered by AFC for licensing criteria and some related criteria to decide whether to participate in AFC’s club tournament.

In the afternoon of the same day, AFC and VFF also had a meeting with Viettel FC. In the opinion of the AFC, in order to be able to participate both in the V-League and the AFC’s tournament, Viettel FC needs to transform the business model and establish a company in accordance with the guidelines and regulations of the AFC as well as the VFF. At the meeting, Viettel FC reported the implementation roadmap and necessary processes to soon establish a business at the request of the AFC, ensuring that it meets the criteria for licensing a professional football club.

As planned, tomorrow morning, April 14, the AFC delegation will continue to work with the Hanoi Police Club (the club has just been promoted to the V.League) to guide the procedures and requirements to complete the licensing criteria for professional football clubs.

The VFF and AFC are committed to providing the necessary guidance and support to help the club complete the licensing criteria, thereby ensuring eligibility to participate in professional tournaments as well as tournaments under the competition system of AFC.