Vietnamese fans in Singapore have 'struggling' to buy tickets to cheer on coach Kim Sang-sik and his team
Many Vietnamese fans in Singapore have not been able to find tickets to cheer on coach Kim Sang-sik and his team in the first leg of the semi-final on December 26.
On the morning of December 25, Mr. Tran Van Que (from Phu Tho), who is living and working in Singapore, went to Jalan Besar Stadium to buy tickets to cheer for the Vietnamese team in the first leg of the semi-final at the 2024 ASEAN Cup. Mr. Que and many Vietnamese people here were very excited, so they arranged their work to be able to go to the stadium to cheer for Kim Sang-sik and his team. However, up to now, everyone has not been able to get a ticket to enter the stadium to cheer for the Vietnamese team.
Mr. Que said: "Today is a day off, so when there was information that the Vietnamese team would come here to compete, I, like other Vietnamese fans in Singapore, looked for information to buy tickets to watch and cheer for the Vietnamese team, but until now, I still don't know where and how to buy tickets to watch the match?"
Previously, Mr. Que had followed the information on the Singapore Football Federation's Page, announcing that they would no longer sell tickets directly, but would hand over all tickets for the away team, distributed by the Vietnam Football Federation. However, the Vietnam Football Federation denied that there was such information.
Because he did not know the specific information about ticket sales, this fan wandered around the stadium this morning where the first leg of the semi-final between Singapore and Vietnam was taking place to buy tickets.
"I had the day off this morning, so I wandered around Jalan Besar Stadium to find tickets, but there was no announcement in front of the stadium, the gates were tightly closed. There are a lot of Vietnamese people here, and they also wanted to find a chance to get into the stadium, but now I don't know what to do."
Representative of the Vietnamese community in Singapore, Ms. Ta Thuy Lien said: ''Previously, there was information that the Singapore Football Federation wanted to distribute 300 tickets to the Vietnamese community here through the channel of the Vietnamese Embassy.
However, they later announced on the official page of the Singapore Football Federation that they would not sell tickets at Jalan Besar Stadium on the match day, December 26. Tickets for away fans have been allocated through the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), so now the Vietnamese community here does not know how to buy tickets.
Meanwhile, the Vietnam Football Federation informed that "VFF is supporting the connection for 2 fan clubs in Vietnam (including the Northern Fan Club - VFS and Vietnam Golden Star - VGS) to register to buy tickets and according to FAS's announcement, they only approved a total of 70 tickets for the 2 fan clubs. For fans who are Vietnamese working and living in Singapore, VFF will not be able to intervene in the ticket purchase."
On the side of the Vietnam Supporters Association, Mr. Phan Dinh Long - Chairman of the Vietnam Supporters Association (VFS North) said: ''Through the Vietnam Football Federation, we contacted a representative of the Singapore Football Federation, this person said that he would sell 20 tickets to the Vietnam Supporters Association (VFS North), however, today is a holiday so we will make an appointment for tomorrow, December 26, to pay and receive the tickets.
So, up to now, Vietnamese fans still cannot own tickets to the stadium to cheer for coach Kim Sang-sik and his team. That has made many Vietnamese fans worried and upset, especially those who have taken the trouble to fly from Vietnam to Singapore to cheer for the "Golden Star Warriors".
Vietnam will meet host Singapore in the first leg of the 2024 ASEAN Cup semi-final on the Jalan Besar artificial turf pitch on December 26. In the group stage, Singapore chose the National Stadium (capacity 55,000) as their home ground in a 2-1 win over Cambodia and a 2-4 loss to Thailand. This is a pitch with natural grass.
However, as the national stadium will host a music event, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has chosen Jalan Besar Stadium as the home ground for the first leg of the semi-finals.