The press conference on the Thanh Nien (Youth) Newspaper International U21 Football Tournament 2019 took place on Tuesday. Running from 30 October to 5 November at the Hoa Xuan Stadium, the tournament sees the participation of 4 teams, namely defending champions U21 Viet Nam, U21 FK Sarajevo, Japanese Students’ team, and South Korea-based Hanyang University.

Vice Chairman Le Trung Chinh (2nd, left) and journalist Nguyen Cong Khe, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Thanh Nien Media Corporation (5th, left) posing for a group photo with representatives from the event’s organisers and the participating teams

Under the competition’s rules, the teams will compete in a round-robin format. Accordingly, the first and second in the group will advance to the final match, whilst the 2 remaining teams will compete in the third-place play-off.

In his remarks at the event, Da Nang People’s Committee Vice Chairman Le Trung Chinh thanked the Thanh Nien Media Corporation, and journalist Nguyen Cong Khe, its Chairman of the Board of Directors in particular, for bringing the tournament to Da Nang.

He hoped all the participating teams would enjoy happy moments and have a good impression of the people and the land of Da Nang.

Journalist Khe remarked this is the first time that Da Nang is hosting the Thanh Nien Newspaper International U21 Football Tournament with the great support of the city authorities. Hopefully, the tournament would be greatly successful as expected, thereby accelerating the development of Vietnamese football.

Also at the press conference, the leaders of the 4 participating teams confirmed that this is a very good tournament featuring strong contenders.

According to FK Sarajevo Youth School Director Dzevad Saric, this is the first time that the U19 FK Sarajevo players are competing in Asia, and this would offer a necessary experience for these young contestants.

Meanwhile, head coach Fukushi Norifumi of the Japanese Students’ team said, this Japanese squad feature good-quality players who have been selected from a total of 40 teams participating in the Japanese Student Football Championship. It is noticeable that, up to 6% of the players who are playing in the J-League have honed their professional skills at this students’ tournament.

Defending champions U21 Viet Nam and South Korea-based Hanyang University promised to exert their best efforts in this tournament to satisfy the local fans’ high expectations.

The tournament’s schedules

As scheduled, U21 FK Sarajevo will compete against Japanese Students’ team in the first match of the tournament which starts at 3:30pm today. The third-place play-off and final matches will take place at 3:30pm and 6:00pm next Tuesday (5 November) respectively.

Viet Nam's U21 team lifted the trophy at last year’s tournament.

The annual Thanh Nien Newspaper International U-21 tournament was officially launched in 2007 by the namesake newspaper in cooperation with the Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF). In addition to enhancing the quality of Vietnamese football, the tournament also helps VFF selectors build up the next generation of players who would represent Viet Nam at the senior and U23 levels.