Winning three Southeast Asian gold medals shows that Vietnam’s female footballers could become a force to be reckoned with in the wider region, but only if they start receiving the treatment their male colleagues get.

“As far as I can tell, women’s football in Vietnam is developing well,” said the former New Zealand international.

“Your national team has made great strides. And I was surprised to learn that most of your women footballers didn’t start playing until the age of 15, when they should have started at five or six, like me for instance,” she said.

What’s needed is more money and better marketing if Vietnamese women’s football is to become truly professional, she said.

In New Zealand, women’s football receives US$350,000 a year, she said.

According to Cox, FIFA president Sepp Blatter believes Vietnam made good use of its 15 percent of FIFA’s $250,000 support for women’s football.

As an example of what can be done, she said New Zealand had made a profit of $26 million from hosting last year’s Under-17 Women’s Football World Cup.

She suggested Vietnam do the same.

Reported by Lan Phuong