Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc receives FIFA President

Welcoming the FIFA President to visit Vietnam, the Prime Minister said that the visit has special significance as Vietnam is preparing to celebrate the traditional New Year and especially, in the jubilant atmosphere when the Vietnam U23 team won the runner-up position at the Asian U23 Championship.

Expressing that he had waited 5 hours to welcome the Vietnam U23 team, the Prime Minister said that he had postponed his working flight to the South to spend time welcoming FIFA President Gianni Infantino. This shows the special respect of the Vietnamese Government and people for the development of sports in general and football in particular.

The Prime Minister stated that in Vietnam, football is a sport that receives special attention from the whole society. There are few countries where people love football as much as in Vietnam. In particular, the achievement of the Vietnam U23 team winning the runner-up position at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship has delighted fans. The victory of the Vietnam team has created special effects, strongly arousing the pride and spirit of national solidarity of the Vietnamese people, creating a festive atmosphere, joy and excitement throughout the regions, provinces and cities of the country with "forests of flags and flowers" on the streets.

The Prime Minister also said that at the regular Government meeting in January 2018, the Prime Minister clearly stated the lesson from the success of the Vietnam U23 team is the strong will, high determination, discipline, and team spirit, and believes that this is not only true for football but also for the direction and administration of the Government, each ministry, and locality.

For my part,FIFA President Gianni Infantino expressed his honor and joy to visit Vietnam and meet Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in a very special atmosphere, close to Vietnam's traditional New Year.

“FIFA recognizes Vietnam’s efforts in developing football,” said President Gianni Infantino, acknowledging that the results of the Vietnam U23 team at the recent Asian U23 Championship did not “come naturally” but were the result of the constant care and support of the Vietnam Football Federation, the Vietnamese Government, and especially the encouragement and support of the great love of football of the Vietnamese people.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino expressed his impression of the enthusiasm of Vietnamese football fans through the images of jubilant celebrations of the victory of U23 Vietnam; at the same time, he thanked the Prime Minister, the Government and the people of Vietnam for always supporting and creating favorable conditions for football development.

Vietnam has become an example of professionalism and seriousness in training, demonstrated through the success of the Vietnam U23 Team. The FIFA President said that Vietnam is not only a great country in history but also a great football country and FIFA will continue to support Vietnam in developing football.

Mr. Gianni Infantino said that FIFA is currently developing a school football project to encourage primary school students, both boys and girls, to learn more about football. Therefore, FIFA hopes to receive support from the Government for this project.

Agreeing with the opinion of FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that the Vietnamese Government always creates favorable conditions to support and invest in football in Vietnam to develop healthily and sustainably through perfecting the legal mechanism for football development; promoting football training and competition movements, football stadiums; organizing amateur and professional football tournaments regularly at all ages and levels.

The Prime Minister highly appreciated FIFA's support for Vietnam with many specific projects on training and developing young football talents, grassroots football, women's football, and referee training, making important contributions to the sustainable development and achievements of Vietnamese football in recent times.

Some outstanding achievements of Vietnam's youth teams in recent times are proof of the effective cooperation with FIFA, such as the Vietnam Futsal Team for the first time in history winning the right to participate in the final round of the 2016 World Futsal Championship in Colombia, the Vietnam U19 Team participating in the U20 World Cup final round in Korea for the first time and the Vietnam U23 Team winning the runner-up position at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship in China.

Currently, Vietnamese football is on the way to integrating with international football and needs more extensive investment in all areas, such as technical expertise, marketing, communication... Therefore, Vietnam hopes to continue to receive support from FIFA and the President personally to continue developing Vietnamese football.

Specifically, Vietnam hopes FIFA will continue to support programs to train coaches and referees, develop youth football, and update advanced football knowledge for the development of professional football in Vietnam.

The Prime Minister also asked FIFA to support improving administrative management and organizing professional football tournaments in Vietnam and affirmed that Vietnam will cooperate with FIFA to build clean football.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc cordially wished a happy new year and presented FIFA President Gianni Infantino with banh chung and gio - familiar dishes on the traditional New Year of the Vietnamese people.