On the afternoon of January 6, 2024, the Opening Ceremony of Ho Chi Minh regional qualifiers, also the Opening of the 2nd Vietnam Student Football Tournament 2024 - THACO Cup, was held at Ton Duc Thang University (TDTU) Stadium.
Attending the Opening Ceremony, there was the presence of Dr. Tran Trong Dao - President of TDTU (Host), along with representatives of the organizing committee and guests, including Journalist Nguyen Ngoc Toan, Editor-in-Chief of Thanh Nien Newspaper and Head of the Organizing Committee of the tournament; Ms. Nguyen Pham Duy Trang, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union’s Central Executive Committee; Mr. Mai Ba Hung, Head of the Office of the Vietnam Olympic Committee in Ho Chi Minh City; Mr. Duong Nghiep Khoi, General Secretary of Vietnam Football Federation (VFF); Mr. Tran Huy Duc, Member of VFF Executive Committee; Mr. Nguyen Mot, Communications Director of Truong Hai Group Joint Stock Company - THACO, main sponsor of the tournament; and representatives of other sponsors.
The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee has assigned Thanh Nien Newspaper in coordination with the Central Vietnam Student Association and VFF to organize the tournament. There are 64 teams divided into 6 competition regions, including Hanoi, Central Coast, South Central Coast and Central Highlands, Southeast Region, Mekong River Delta, and Ho Chi Minh City. The 11 teams that pass the qualifying round will join the home team TDTU to compete in the final round of the tournament.
At the ceremony, Ms. Nguyen Pham Duy Trang, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union’s Central Executive Committee, shared “We feel the heat of the tournament and expect the Vietnam Student Football Tournament to raise the professionalism of school sports”.
Journalist Nguyen Ngoc Toan, Editor-in-Chief of Thanh Nien Newspaper and Head of the Organizing Committee of the tournament, hoped that this tournament will create a healthy and useful playground for students, which can raise students’ awareness of the importance of physical training and sports movements. He also expected to find talents for the national football team and train them to compete in international competitions.
TDTU is a public university with experience in organizing many large-scale sporting events. With international standard sports facilities being synchronously invested, especially a FIFA standard football field with a capacity of more than 7,000 seats, TDTU can co-organize the 2nd Vietnam Student Football Tournament - THACO cup 2024. This contributes to promoting the sports movements in universities, inspiring and spreading the love of football in the student community, and creating opportunities to find young talents to be trained as professional athletes.
In the same afternoon, the first match of the tournament took place between the home team TDTU and the Gia Dinh University team. With an overwhelming position against the Gia Dinh University team, TDTU Team won with score of 2:0 in the opening match of group 1 in Ho Chi Minh City regional qualifying rounds.
Some pictures of TDTU team and Gia Dinh University team
