AFC makes funding for ‘Vision Vietnam’ conditional

The Asian Football Confederation has made funding of the Vietnamese game contingent on the country fulfilling three key tasks, a conference in Hanoi on the ‘Vision Asia’ football development program was told today.

AFC General Secretary, Peter Velappan, said the Vietnam Football Federation must establish a special working group to run the local ‘Vision Vietnam’ program, assign a project coordinator and establish a development fund for the project.

VFF chairman, Nguyen Trong Hy, said the federation will pilot the program in the central Nghe An province and Long An province in the south. He also praised the AFC for both its anti-corruption and football lottery proposals which would be "sent soon" to the government for approval.

Showing the urgency for change in football management in Vietnam, it was also reported that by the Communist youth newspaper, Thanh Nien, that a Singaporian sports company, Strata Sports Marketing Company Ltd, has parted ways with First League football club Strata Dong Nai due to internal conflict among the team and coaching staff, and a challenging relationship with its domestic partner.

Strata’s annual expenses for the club since 2003 ran at about US$ 315,000, most of which came in the form of investment from business partners. No doubt the V-League, Vietnam’s premier division, was Strata’s initial target when it signed on, but Strata Dong Nai FC finished the First Division 2005 in a disappointing tenth position among only twelve teams, the newspaper reported.