Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has been fined for not meeting medical requirements during the Group B second round of the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers held in September 2023.
The matches in Group B took place at the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center (VYS) from September 20 to 24, 2023. Australia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Bangladesh were the competing teams, with Vietnam finishing third, thus missing out on a spot in the final tournament to be held in Indonesia in May 2024.
During the event, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) identified two medical violations by the VFF, leading to a fine of USD 10,000 (equivalent to approximately VND 250 million). These violations occurred across four matches: Australia vs. the Philippines, Bangladesh vs. Vietnam, the Philippines vs. Bangladesh, and Vietnam vs. Australia.
The first violation was a failure to fully equip ambulances with advanced life support equipment, emergency medications, and properly trained medical staff. According to Article 70.2 of the AFC Competition Operations Manual, advanced life support equipment includes defibrillators, oxygen masks, IV drip systems, and emergency medications.
The second violation was the insufficient setup of medical rooms with necessary emergency equipment. Article 71.1 of the AFC manual mandates that each venue must have two fully equipped medical rooms to provide care for teams and AFC delegations.
These two rooms must meet three specific requirements: the first should be located close to the playing field and changing rooms to provide immediate care for players with severe injuries, while the second should be near the VIP stands to offer emergency services. Both rooms must be fully equipped with items such as two examination tables, spinal and head braces, defibrillators, IV stands, and oxygen supplies.
AFC notified VFF of the penalty at the end of September 2024, a full year after the event. They also warned that future violations could result in harsher penalties.
AFC typically issues penalties based on match inspector reports rather than immediately informing federations or clubs. Once a disciplinary decision is made, organizations have 30 days to address the fine.
This is the first time VFF has been penalized by AFC for medical-related issues. In December 2022, VFF was fined USD 5,000 for allowing unauthorized individuals into the technical areas during the U17 Asian Cup qualifiers in Phu Tho. Historically, VFF has mostly been fined for fan-related incidents, such as the USD 39,500 fine during the U23 Asian Cup qualifiers in 2019 in Hanoi, or fines at the 2018 ASIAD semifinals and the 2016 AFF Cup semifinals.
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