VietNamNet Bridge – The Chairman of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) said on Tuesday that they would invite Manchester United (UK) and AC Milan (Italy) to Vietnam next year.

Will MU go to Vietnam next year?

VFF Chairman, Nguyen Trong Hy, said the VFF is negotiating with foreign partners to invite MU to Vietnam in July 2009. He also said that AC Milan may go to Vietnam to play a friendly match against the national squad.

According to Hy, in a recent visit to Vietnam of an Italian business delegation (November 4-7, 2008), some Italian businessmen promised to help VFF invite AC Milan to Vietnam.

Hy also said that it is nearly sure that Greece’s Olympiakos club will go to Vietnam next May.

The VFF Chairman revealed a plan to organize a great football event to celebrate the 1,000^th anniversary of the Hanoi capital.

Hy said the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, told the VFF to organize an international football event to celebrate the 1,000^th anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi, and the VFF plans to organize the Thang Long Cup, which will gather famous squads in the world, for example the national squads of France, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Netherlands, Mexico, and Argentina.

He said the VFF has begun to work on this plan. “Guest teams to the Thang Long Cup must be continental or global reputed teams,” Hy confirmed.

The VFF paid up to US $500,000 for a friendly match between the national squad and Olympic Brazil so it is said that to hold the Thang Long Cup, it will have to pay millions of US dollars.

On Tuesday, the VFF announced the fixture list of the football season for 2009. Accordingly, V-League will be kicked off on February 7 and close on August 23, 2009. The First Division will start on February 6 and finish on August 22. Meanwhile, the National Cup will run from January 31 to August 29.

(Source: VietNamNet, TP, GD&XH)