Bau Duc: In April, I will quit football if Mr. Tu wins the election.

Mr. Duc declared that he is ready to quit football if he fails to prevent Mr. Tran Anh Tu from being elected as vice president of finance.

In response to the strong reactions from HAGL about many clubs nominating Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc to the position of Vice President (VP) in charge of finance and sponsorship mobilization, but VFF violated the procedure, did not record his name nor notify the president of HAGL Club, VFF General Secretary Le Hoai Anh called Mr. Duc to fly to Hanoi to meet the personnel subcommittee at 6:00 p.m. on March 21. Regarding this issue, the reporter had a conversation with Mr. Duc, who is currently working in Laos.

*Reporter: Sir, after the VFF General Secretary called to ask HAGL delegation leader Nguyen Tan Anh to supplement his candidacy for the 8th VFF Executive Committee, but Mr. Tan Anh informed him of the club's objection, Mr. Hoai Anh then invited you to fly to Hanoi. Do you know the purpose of this invitation?

-Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc: I never go out for such a trivial meeting! If you want a meeting, it has to be formal, there has to be a standing committee, there has to be executive committee members. There can't be a situation where two people call each other to make personal arrangements, talk to each other, ask for experience, etc. That never happens to me.

Things have been like this for the past few days, now I want to ask the question: what is the purpose of VFF calling me out? Do they want to take over football, take over the whole federation? If so, will Vietnamese football be ruined? Definitely ruined.

Coach Park Hang Seo went to Gia Lai to thank Mr. Duc after helping U23 Vietnam win the 2018 U23 Asian Cup.

* So have you responded or expressed your opinion to VFF yet?

- I asked Mr. Tan Anh to pass on the message to Le Hoai Anh, requesting that VFF answer the question:"Why hide my name? Although the rules say the nominee must be announced, whether they stay or go is their business.

But here the personnel subcommittee hides it, what is their purpose? Is it against the law or not, is it the right mechanism or not? So who will be responsible then? Football must be open, transparent, clear. Why would the press and tens of thousands of fans like that, they will find out right away, how can it be hidden!

VFF should have been transparent about everything, to prove to the public whether we are clean or not, whether we are worthy of our fans or not? Doing this is clearly not transparent, not worthy. Why did the Federation try to get Mr. Tran Anh Tu in at all costs, because there is already a team inside, to destroy.

* You have repeatedly declared that you will definitely withdraw from VFF. However, after knowing that many clubs nominated you and the VFF personnel subcommittee did not mention your name, you reacted very strongly, especially mentioning Mr. Tran Anh Tu. Can you explain more clearly?

- Not only VFF, I also reacted to Mr. Tu in his role as VPF. Personally, I strongly opposed the appointment of Mr. Tu as VFF Vice President in charge of finance as well as a series of positions at VPF before that. I am the president of a club, a member of VPF, I would never let Mr. Tu hold 3 positions of Chairman of the Board of Directors, General Director of VPF and Head of the V-League Executive Board like that.

Obviously and objectively, society will see that VPF is now no different from a family business, not a social organization of many people. I myself and HAGL Club do not allow that.

I declare on my honor that if this does not change, I will quit football and never do it again. I have no shortage of money to play football, but I cannot stay in a chaotic organization like this.

It is impossible that he holds the 3 most powerful positions in VPF, and now jumps to hold the position of vice president of VFF as well. That way all the power is in his hands, while Mr. Tu is an outsider in football, contributing nothing to football, only futsal.

Yet he took over everything within 1 year, all the key positions of Vietnamese football were given to him, that is unacceptable.

Mr. Duc did not agree to meet privately with VFF on the afternoon of March 21.

I repeat, I dare to declare one thing, this matter is not resolved properly, I am the first person to leave football, and then many people will leave together. I do not accept staying in an organization where everything is manipulated. Many people are afraid of "broken strings", do not dare to speak up, so they accept it, but I spend money to do it, so I have to be transparent about everything.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors is separate, the General Director and the Head of the Tournament Executive Board must be separate, must debate and control each other so that internal problems can be solved, but here you hold all the power of VPF in your hands, who dares to play anymore.

I cannot accept this lack of transparency in VPF. VPF was established by the clubs, the chairman of the board of directors should be the chairman of one of the clubs, but does Mr. Tu have a football team? The general director should also be chosen from the executive directors of the clubs, the head of the tournament's executive board should also be someone with experience in organizing football, not an outsider.

* You mentioned quitting football many times. Do you believe you can change VFF by bringing HAGL out as a counterweight, creating pressure on the election of the 8th VFF Congress?

- Although I love and cherish football, I cannot accept such unreasonable things happening. Don't use the excuse of being legal, no one is illegal, but holding a series of positions at the same time is unacceptable. Who dares to argue with me when the policy is from me, the decision is also signed by me, how can that be?

Many clubs also know about this absurdity but they dare not say anything, but I am straightforward and ready to fight to the end. I repeat, I will not let Mr. Tu run for Vice President of VFF Finance, we cannot let Mr. Tu hold nearly 10 positions while being an outsider in football.

We have spent money on football, pursued football for many years, there are many talented people, why not promote them. In the North, Mr. Hoai (Vice President of FLC Thanh Hoa) is extremely talented, extremely good at giving feedback. In the South, there is Cao Van Chong, who organized the tournament successfully last year, and Pham Phu Hoa, who is young and talented. Why let him go? I will say it straight, there is an arrangement. Doing football must be transparent.

HAGL has a long-standing and prestigious football academy, but I am willing to quit because I cannot accept this absurdity. I cannot spend money to play football but am being manipulated. Many people are afraid to speak up, which turns out to be the death of football. Everyone is keeping to themselves, afraid of being persecuted, what else is there to persecute about football?

I protested directly in front of Mr. Le Hung Dung, using the word too greedy. Everyone is greedy, but this is too greedy. While many people are too hungry, some are too full. Currently, in the VFF executive committee, there is no shortage of unemployed people. Don't say they are there just for show and don't know how to play football. Many people in the federation are very good, Mr. Pham Ngoc Vien, Mr. Tran Duy Ly, Mr. Cao Van Chong,... run football wonderfully. The problem is who supports and allows him to run for a series of positions like that.

* Thank you for our conversation today.

A vice presidential candidate withdrew.

On the afternoon of March 20, in a discussion with Mr. Le Thanh Trung, deputy general director in charge of communications of a Vietnamese commercial bank, he said he would submit an application to withdraw from the list of candidates for vice president of communications of the 8th VFF Executive Committee."I thank some clubs for nominating me for the position of VFF vice president of communications. However, my current job is too busy, so it is difficult to ensure good work at VFF, so I would like to withdraw,"Mr. Le Thanh Trung shared.