V-League Organizing Committee: 'Cong Vinh cannot demand to pay for the referee himself'

Head of the organizing committee Nguyen Minh Ngoc said that if the acting President of Ho Chi Minh City Club sponsors the money to hire referees, it will be difficult to ensure fairness in this team's matches.

Ho Chi Minh City players surrounded referee Van Kien to demand a penalty but failed.

“Cong Vinh reacted to a controversial situation in the match between Hai Phong and Ho Chi Minh City. But demanding the removal of the head of the referee board and then sponsoring money to hire foreign referees is his unprofessional reaction,” Head of the V-League organizing committee Nguyen Minh Ngoc told VnExpress.

In the 84th minute of the match at Lach Tray Stadium in V-League yesterday, October 14, Da Silva lost the ball after the naturalized player Van Phu passed by. The Ho Chi Minh City team focused on demanding a penalty when the ball was “live”, creating an opportunity for Hai Phong to quickly attack and increase the score to 3-1.

Cong Vinh believes that the referees were wrong in this situation, causing his team to unfairly lose 1-4 in round 22. After the match, the acting President of Ho Chi Minh City Club announced that he was ready to "sponsor" money for the V-League organizing committee to hire foreign referees.

"There has never been a precedent in the world for a football team to pay money to hire referees for a tournament. If Ho Chi Minh City sponsors money, who can guarantee that this team will not benefit from the kings of the field?", Mr. Nguyen Minh Ngoc analyzed.

"The situation of Da Silva falling in the penalty area was not really clear. Meanwhile, the referees only blow the penalty if they are 100% sure. The ball was still alive, the HCM City players were busy reacting so that Hai Phong could attack and score, which is unprofessional. If the referee is wrong, the referees will decide, there is no way the club can ask for sponsorship money to hire a referee of their choice. If every team asks for that, where will the tournament go?

Ho Chi Minh City's defense made many mistakes, leading to a heavy 1-4 loss at Lach Tray.

In the sixth round on February 19, Long An players stopped playing to protest the referee. Ho Chi Minh City FC continued to attack, scoring three goals. After the match, Long An admitted their mistake in reacting negatively and accepted a series of penalties from the organizers.

According to VNE