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In welcome news for millions of football lovers, the Vietnam Football Federation has announced that Vietnam Television (VTV) has successfully clinched a deal with Lagardere Sports, the official sponsor of the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup, to broadcast the tournament’s matches in the country.
The value of the deal has not been revealed thus far.
Football fans in Vietnam can now sit in front of their TV sets and watch all 28 football matches, including two matches in the preliminary round on September 1 and 8, and 26 remaining matches scheduled to take place from November 8 to December 15.
Vietnam is in Group A along with Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. The Vietnamese team will first play Laos on November 8.
Expectations are high after the recent strides made by Vietnamese national football team, reaching the final of the U23 Asian Football Confederation Cup in Changzhou, China and making it to the top 4 at the recently concluded Asian Games.
VTV general secretary Nguyen Ha Nam said that it has obtained the broadcasting license for AFF Suzuki Cup without the sponsorship of any business.
National broadcaster VTV, which usually buys the broadcasting rights for major sporting events and tournaments, had refused to purchase the broadcasting package for last month's Asiad from KJSM, a South Korean enterprise which wanted $10 million.
Radio Voice of Vietnam stepped in and sealed the deal, with help from business giants Vingroup and Viettel. These two were also the ones helping VTV in getting broadcasting rights to World Cup 2018, at the last minute after fans were kept on tenterhooks for weeks.
