Strong teams promise competitive matches at int’l seven-a-side tournament

Football

National Cup champions Hiếu Hoa — Quahaco will take part in the Wika Cup, the second international seven-a-side football tournament, on January 11-14 in Hà Nội. Photos of Vietfootball

HÀ NỘI — The international seven-a-side football tournament will return in style later this week in Hà Nội.

The Wika Cup will feature four teams, Nongpookao x Nongpoothan of Thailand, Kickerz of Malaysia and two Vietnamese champions Đại Từ and Hiếu Hoa — Quahaco.

They will compete in a round robin format and the team with most points will bring home the trophy.

In the opening match, Nongpookao x Nongpoothan will play Kickerz at the Hoàng Mai District’s Culture, Information and Sports Centre on January 11. The two host teams will play each other in the later game, and the final round matches will be on January 14.

“It is the second edition of the tournament as the organisers and sponsors, especially Wika Sports, have worked hard to make it happen,” said Phạm Ngọc Tuấn, head of the organising committee.

“We have to thank all partners who strongly support us to continue organising the event and developing seven-a-side football. We believe that in the near future this special kind of football will grow strongly in Việt Nam, Southeast Asia and Asia. Seven-a-side football will be Việt Nam’s pride in the world,” he said.

According to the organisers, the tournament will be competitive and continue attracting huge number of supporters as in the first edition in 2022.

Đại Từ are the reigning national champion while Hiếu Hoa — Quahaco are the National Cup winner. They are both considered the strongest sides of Việt Nam currently.

Organisers announce the international seven-a-side football tournament on January 9 in Hà Nội.

Nongpookao x Nongoothan overcame nearly 700 clubs in local leagues to secure their spot at the Wika Cup, while Kickerz are a powerful team in their Malaysian championship, the organisers said at a press briefing on January 9 in Hà Nội.

In the first championship, four teams from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Việt Nam competed with each other.

The host side which gathered national best players successfully kept the trophy home.

Speaking at the briefing, Lê Thị Hoàng Yến, deputy director of the Sports Authority of Việt Nam, said despite being an amateur event, the tournament lured thousands of fans to the stadium while many others watched live on TV and other platforms. 

The huge number of supporters of the seven-a-side football, which was definitely the dream of many V.League clubs, showed their great care for this sport. People’s attention would help it develop better and stronger.

Yến hoped that Vietnamese players would do good job here and keep the trophy at home. From this tournament, seven-a-side football would reach regional and continental level in which Việt Nam would be core and leader of the movement.

Lê Hồng Linh, representative of Wika Sports, said Việt Nam’s football in general and seven-a-side football in particular had remarkably developed recently in both term of scale and quality. Wika was a sponsor of the tournament in the first season and now wanted to contributed more in hopes of making it an annual event. The company hoped to lift the tournament locally and internationally, bringing good value to the community.

All matches will be live broadcast on channels of VTVCab and Vietfootball. VNS