The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) began selling tickets online at 8 a.m. Sunday for the semi-final match on Dec. 29 at Viet Tri Stadium in the northern province of Phu Tho. Tickets were priced at VND600,000 (US$23.57), VND500,000, and VND300,000.
Unlike the two group-stage matches against Indonesia and Myanmar, tickets were only sold online this time, and they proved to be hot commodities, as all were sold in 15 minutes.
The 20,000-seat Viet Tri Stadium was packed during both group-stage matches. In addition to the tickets sold to the public, VFF allocated 2,000 seats to visiting fans as per regulations and reserved spaces for sponsors and partners.
Vietnamese fans at Viet Tri Stadium, Phu Tho on December 21 when the team played the final round of the group stage against Myanmar in ASEAN Cup 2024. Photo: Giang Huy |
Viet Tri Stadium, located within the Phu Tho Sports Complex, underwent a VND44-billion renovation to host the 31st SEA Games. Before this year’s ASEAN Cup, the stadium had never hosted Vietnam’s national team matches but had held U22 matches during the SEA Games, the 2024 AFC U23 qualifiers, and recently the 2025 AFC U17 qualifiers.
Vietnam will play the first-leg semi-final match at the Jalan Besar Stadium, which has an artificial turf. During the group stage, Singapore played at the National Stadium, which features natural grass, defeating Cambodia 2-1 and losing 2-4 to Thailand.
However, they have to switch to Jalan Besar Stadium for the semi-finals due to pre-scheduled music events at the National Stadium. Originally a natural grass stadium, Jalan Besar switched to artificial turf in 2006 and is now home to the Young Lions FC. The stadium has a seating capacity of about 10,000.
After defeating Myanmar, Vietnam’s national team had a light training session on Sunday morning. Except for forward Nguyen Van Toan, who is nursing a knee injury, all players are in good condition.
The team will fly to Singapore on Monday to prepare for the away match on Dec. 26.
The AFF Cup was renamed the ASEAN Cup starting in 2024, running from Dec. 8, 2024, to Jan. 5, 2025. Ten teams are divided into two groups, each playing two home and two away matches, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semi-finals. From the semi-finals onward, matches are played over two legs, home and away, but the away goals rule is not applied.
Thailand will play the Philippines in the other semifinals.
After 14 editions of the AFF Cup, Thailand lead with seven championships (1996, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022), followed by Singapore (1998, 2004, 2007, 2012), Vietnam (2008, 2018), and Malaysia (2010).
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