New: Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club received nearly 9 billion VND from AFC, how was it specifically used?

Regarding the case of the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club receiving nearly 9 billion VND from the Asian Football Confederation after reaching the semi-finals of the Asian Women's Cup C1, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports responded at a press conference held on the afternoon of July 24.

In the 2024 - 2025 season, the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club excellently entered the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League Women's (Asian Women's Cup C1) 2024 - 2025. With this achievement, the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club received from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) an amount of about 340,000 USD (nearly 9 billion VND), including: performance bonus and tournament participation/organization fee support. After deducting expenses, the above amount is still quite a lot left. However, according to the reflection of the members of the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club, they have not received any bonus from the management unit (Thong Nhat Sports Center). At the same time, the team also received a response from the management unit that the money will be used for women's football activities in the future. This makes the members of the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club have concerns.

AFC spent $40,000

Receiving questions from the press, the Department of Sports and Physical Training coordinated with Thong Nhat Sports and Physical Training Center (the unit that manages and trains football in Ho Chi Minh City, including the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club participating in the 2024 - 2025 Asian Women's Cup C1) to answer at a press conference to provide information on socio -economic issues in Ho Chi Minh City on July 24.

Regarding the performance bonus, the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club received 40,000 USD thanks to 2 wins in the group stage of the Asian Women's Cup C1 (20,000 USD each). 40,000 USD was transferred by AFC to the account of Thong Nhat Sports Center, and converted by the State Bank to the exchange rate at the time of receipt with the corresponding amount of 1,018,200,384 VND (1.018 billion VND). Accordingly, the above amount was paid by Thong Nhat Sports Center to reward coaches and athletes based on the minutes of the meeting of the coaching board and department heads (transferred to personal accounts and paid on behalf of personal income tax) of 1,018,200,384 VND.

Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club makes history by reaching the semi-finals of the 2024 - 2025 Asian Women's Cup

Photo: Kha Hoa

In addition to the bonus for the two group stage wins of the AFC, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) awarded the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club after winning the quarter-final match with VND500 million through the Thong Nhat Sports Center and the unit that made the payment. In addition, the Thong Nhat Sports Center proposed the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports to promptly reward VND100 million from the sports talent fund and this reward has been implemented.

Surplus of 3.7 billion VND: How to spend?

Regarding the tournament participation support fee, AFC paid the HCMC Women's Club 300,000 USD: including 100,000 USD for participating in the group stage, 80,000 USD for reaching the quarter-finals, 120,000 USD for reaching the semi-finals. Accordingly, this 300,000 USD was transferred by AFC to the account of Thong Nhat Sports Center, and converted by the State Bank to the exchange rate at the time of receipt with the corresponding amount of 7,686,218,811 VND (7.686 billion VND).

The amount of 7,686 billion VND was spent on the following items: organizing the quarter-final match; hiring foreign players to participate in the quarter-finals and semi-finals; training costs to prepare for the Asian Women's Cup; costs to participate in the quarter-final match; costs to participate in the semi-final match; costs to support nutrition for the team's coaches and athletes during the tournament.

After deducting the above amounts, the remaining amount is 3,738,732,334 VND (3.738 billion VND).

On July 14, the coaching staff and the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club sent a report No. 81/TTr-BMBD of the Football Department attached to the meeting minutes of the Women's Football Department on July 14, requesting to deduct 30% of the expenses for preparing for the 2025-2026 season and 70% of the request for expenses for individual team members.

On July 22, the Board of Directors of Thong Nhat Sports Center had a meeting with the coaching staff, the women's football department and the representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Football Federation about the AFC's support fund being used for the right purpose and content according to the tournament regulations issued by the AFC.

Accordingly, the unused funds will be managed and used for the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club according to current financial regulations and will be specified through the regulations on management and use of support funds for the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club (specifically, the first team - the team participating in the tournament directly).

On July 23, Thong Nhat Sports Center had a meeting with the coaching staff and women's football managers to get their opinions on the draft regulations for using the above funding source. It is expected that on July 25, the coaching staff and women's football managers will complete their comments and propose a reasonable spending level. Thong Nhat Sports Center ensures the management and use of the support funding source for the right purpose and in accordance with the law.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/moi-vu-clb-nu-tphcm-nhan-gan-9-ti-dong-tu-afc-duoc-su-dung-cu-the-the-nao-185250724175503389.htm