Asian media impressed with V.League’s return

Many Asian media agencies have shown great admiration as Vietnam’s top-flight football league, the V.League, officially restarted on June 5 after an almost three-month break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially regarding the fact that thousands of fans are being admitted into stadiums.

Saturday, June 06, 2020 03:24

India Today quotes an article by Reuters highlighting the return of V.League with packed crowds.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) published an article on the evening of June 5 to cover the first three clashes of V.League’s Matchday 3, in which the author highlighted Viettel midfielder Vu Minh Tuan’s 92^nd-minute goal in their 2-1 win against Nam Dinh as “a dramatic ending to a day which saw the V.League resume with fans in the stands following the suspension of matches due to COVID-19.”

The Star, an English-language newspaper in Malaysia, quoted the article “Vietnam football league restarts with packed crowds as COVID-19 risk abates” by Reuters. The article was also cited by some other newspapers and news sites, such as The Viral Print, India Today, and Channel News Asia.

Lach Tray Stadium is filled with fans as Hai Phong FC host HCM City. (Photo: Zing)

“Thousands of fans poured into stadiums in Vietnam on Friday (Jun 5) as the country resumed top-flight soccer without social distancing measures or curbs on crowd sizes, owing to its success in combating the spread of the novel coronavirus,” Reuters wrote.

The article added: “The stadium in Nam Dinh was close to its 30,000 capacity on Friday as the home side lost 2-1 to visitors Viettel in one of the three opening V.League matches, where spectators stood shoulder-to-shoulder with few face masks to be seen. Hand sanitisers were available as stewards performed temperature checks on fans, who were asked to wear masks as they entered.”

Reuters also made a comparison between V.League and other leagues around the world, such as Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga, which it said still cannot return until later this month or have already restarted but with “a haunting atmosphere at empty stadiums and muted goal-scoring celebrations.”

FIFA highlights the return of V.League on its Twitter page.

The International Football Federation (FIFA) also highlighted the return of Vietnam’s top-flight soccer league by posting some photos with a status: “Football is back in Vietnam” on its Twitter page.

Vietnam’s resumption of football events in particular and its effective COVID-19 prevention and control have significantly impressed the world. Not long ago, when the 2020 Vietnamese National Cup returned with fans allowed entering the stadiums, many regional and world newspapers also expressed their admiration.