Vietnam’s dramatic triumph on home soil in the deciding match of the 16th ASEAN Championship (and the first as the ASEAN Hyundai Cup) was not only a “celebration night” for a “country which is passionate about football,” it was an inspiring testament to the “hard work that they have done, by the federation, by the government,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in the capital, Hanoi.

Mr Infantino was in attendance at the My Dinh National Stadium on Wednesday evening as Vietnam overcame visiting Thailand and won the prestigious tournament for ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) men’s national teams for a second consecutive time.

“Many, many congratulations to Vietnam for winning this edition of the ASEAN Hyundai Cup here in Hanoi. Full stadium. The city is crazy. The country is crazy – one hundred million people celebrating this victory,” the FIFA President said.

At kick-off, Vietnam held what seemed like a significant advantage in the two-leg affair thanks to a 2-0 win in Bangkok, Thailand four days earlier. But Thailand was resilient and got back into the tie with a 12th-minute goal from Yotsakorn Burapha. A Thai own goal restored Vietnam’s two-goal cushion, but the War Elephants halved their deficit again with Wanchai Jarunongkran’s strike in the 85th minute, setting up a gripping conclusion. A second Thai own goal, this one in stoppage time, then lifted the Vietnamese to a 2-2 draw on the night and a 4-2 aggregate victory.

“Congratulations to Thailand as well. This final was epic, very emotional,” the FIFA President said. “Vietnam won, but Thailand played a very, very good match. Congratulations to the Federation, the Vietnamese Football Federation, and my friend, Dr Tran Quoc Tuan, its President. Congratulations to the ASEAN Football Federation and General (Khiev) Sameth. You’ve done great work, and congratulations to this beautiful, fantastic country, Vietnam, for winning this well-deserved trophy.

“This is what we are about,” he continued. “This is what FIFA is about – about developing, about bringing the best of football in every corner of the world.”

During his stay in the country, the FIFA President also met with the President of Vietnam Tô Lâm. “We discussed ongoing projects and opportunities to collaborate in order to provide everyone in Vietnam with a football dream a chance to pursue our sport while creating pathways to fulfil them,” the FIFA President said. “A big thank you to President Tô Lâm for your time and support for FIFA and our aligned football ambitions for your country.”

Southeast Asia is a corner of the world where football is beloved and where the game is on the rise. The biennial ASEAN Championship, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, has become a marquee event – nearly 39,000 attended Wednesday’s match. And FIFA is focused on accelerating that growth. Mr Infantino was joined on his second trip to Vietnam by FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström. The pair were greeted at Noi Bai International Airport on Wednesday morning by Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) President Dr Tran Quoc Tuan and other VFF representatives.

President General Khiev Sameth and Football Association of Thailand President Nualphan Lamsam later joined the FIFA delegation at the match.

The AFF is a regional body which is part of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and comprises 12 FIFA Member Associations (MAs) in Southeast Asia from Myanmar in the north to Australia in the south (although Australia do not compete in the ASEAN Championship). In addition to finalists Thailand and Vietnam, the AFF also includes Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Timor Leste.

Thailand is the ASEAN Championship’s most successful side with seven overall titles, followed by Vietnam (now four), Singapore (four) and Malaysia (one). Vietnam’s rise is noteworthy. The Golden Star Warriors had advanced to just one ASEAN Championship final before winning it for the first time in 2008. But they are now ascendant, having captured three of the past five crowns alongside a runners-up finish in 2022. Vietnam have risen 40 places in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (to 99th) over the past decade. The Vietnamese women have made historic strides as well, as they reached the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ for the first time in 2023. The men’s U-17 side also has broken through and will make their FIFA U-17 World Cup™ debut later this year in Qatar.

“Vietnamese football has made incredible progress in the last few years. At youth level, women's, men’s, girls’, boys’, qualifications in the tournaments, the youth tournaments, AFC, FIFA and the senior level as well,” Mr Infantino stated.

“Today, we agreed to do a FIFA (Talent) Academy here in Vietnam, as well,” he continued. “So, the future for Vietnam, but for the whole of Southeast Asia – 800 million people – is absolutely bright because the passion is there, the talent is there. From FIFA’s side and AFC’s side and AFF’s side, we will give and create more opportunities to play, and we will find more resources for the talent of Vietnam and Southeast Asia to develop.”

Through the FIFA Forward Programme – which has distributed nearly USD 5.1 billion to national and regional federations around the world since Mr Infantino took office in 2016 – the VFF has committed more than USD 5.2 million in funding various projects which are transforming the nation’s football landscape. From impactful upgrades and enhancements to the Vietnam Youth Football Training Centre in Hanoi, the VFF’s primary national team facility, to vital national team support, Video Assistant Referee (VAR) implementation and more, FIFA has helped Vietnamese football come closer to reaching its vast potential.

“It’s bearing its fruit. Congratulations. Fantastic day. A lot of emotion. This is football. This is what we love in FIFA, and this is why I'm here and we are here,” Mr Infantino said following the final.

“We will bring football in all the schools in Vietnam – (FIFA) Football for Schools. We will build pitches, football pitches, everywhere: FIFA Arenas, and big-sized pitches in all the schools. We will also implement and set up a FIFA (Talent) Academy, so that the talent that is developing in all the schools, in all the clubs of the country, the best talents can go to a FIFA Academy as of a very young age, 8-9 years of age, until they become top professional players.

“We want Vietnam to become one of the biggest countries in football in the world. The potential is there. The talent is there. We do the rest, working as a team together.”

On the second day of his tour, Mr Infantino passed a similar message following a visit to the site of the future PVF Stadium on the southern outskirts of Hanoi, which will have a capacity of 60,000 spectators, and the nearby PVF academy, a training centre for youth players with state-of-the-art facilities.

“Our job in FIFA, together with our Presidents of all associations in Asia and around the world, our job is to create opportunities for you to compete,” the FIFA President said. “Because what we want at FIFA is to make football truly global, and to narrow, to make the gap smaller between the big, big football countries, and all the others. To bring countries like Vietnam up to the global stage. And we will continue working in this direction and with this objective, because we have the force and the strength from 100 million Vietnamese people who believe in this. So, when you put together the passion, the ambition, the projects, the opportunities, and the resources, the future for the children, for the clubs, for the national teams, is absolutely spectacular. “