Vietnamese football joins Covid-19 fight

Hanoi FC has been one of the most active clubs in supporting the Covid-19 fight. The club has donated VND1 billion ($42,400) to the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases and VND500 million ($21,200) to the National Institute Of Hygiene and Epidemiology, both in Hanoi.

The club's players like Pham Duc Huy, Do Duy Manh, Truong Van Thai Quy and Do Hung Dung have also donated money to the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee (VFFC). All the money will be used to buy essential medical equipment and to aid quarantine and treatment facilities throughout the country.

HCMC FC has given VND360 million ($15,333) to the VFFC in Ho Chi Minh City. This money has been contributed by all players in the club.

HAGL forward Nguyen Van Toan has called on others to join him in supporting the country at this time. He and his friends, including HCMC FC striker Nguyen Cong Phuong, have donated a total of VND151 million ($6,400) to the VFFC.

Toan’s action has been followed by other footballers, with national team players like Que Ngoc Hai and Bui Tien Dung making monetary contributions. Players like Nguyen Anh Duc and Nguyen Tien Linh have donated both money and thousands of face masks.

Footballers have also used their influence on social media platforms to spread positive messages, raise awareness and ask people to stay at home to prevent the novel coronavirus from spreading.

Messages like "Let’s go Vietnam! Let’s defeat Covid-19 together", "Vietnam will beat this pandemic", "Vietnam fighting!" and "We can do it" have been well received by the fans.

Hanoi FC captain Nguyen Van Quyet has raised VND118 million ($5,000) – VND68 million from his friends and fans and VND50 million from auctioning the jersey he played in at the AFF Cup 2018, which Vietnam won. The jersey has the autograph of all members of the national football team.

Quyet said that the money will be used to buy surgical masks, protection gear and other necessities for Bach Mai Hospital, the country's largest Covid-19 hotspot. The 28-year-old forward also donated 100 face masks and 100 protection suits to the hospital on his own.

Vietnam head coach Park Hang-seo has also been active in supporting the country, donating $5,000 to the VFFC in March.

"At the moment, Vietnam and the whole world are fighting against this coronavirus night and day. I want to give a small contribution and hope it would partly help people affected by the virus and those whose daily income has suffered. Together we can end this pandemic," he said in a statement.

Early this month, Park and the South Korea Ambassador in Vietnam Park Noh Wan, along with representatives of several enterprises in South Korea, donated $100,000 to the VFFC.

Park also took part in the "Wash your hands" challenge started by VFF to guide people on how to wash hands properly as a preventive measure against the virus.

The most recent action by the Vietnamese football community has been a campaign called "Thank you," to appreciate the non-stop work being done by doctors and other medical workers to tackle the pandemic. Famous footballers, male and female, have also propagated the social distancing campaign in Vietnam. They have posted their photos holding up #Thankyou signs on social media and called for people of all ages to support the medical workers by donating money and staying at home.

Vietnam has recorded 251 Covid-19 patients so far, of whom 122 have been cured, including 27 on Tuesday.

Worldwide, upwards of 1.4 million people have been infected with the novel coronavirus and the death toll has risen to more than 82,000.