*This content was translated by AI.
If Vietnam's under-23 national soccer team wins the third place match of the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup against South Korea, it will receive a total of 3 billion dong (168 million won).
Vietnamese media VN Express reported on the 22nd (Korea Standard Time) that "Doan Nguyen Deuk, chairman of Hoang Ain Zalai FC (HAGL, Vietnam), said if Vietnam beats South Korea in the third-place match, he will pay the reward he promised to advance to the final."
According to reports, Doan Nguyen Deuk, chairman of Vietnam's U-23 national team, promised to pay 2 billion dong (112 million won) in rewards to the Vietnamese national soccer team and an additional 200 million dong (11.2 million won) each to five players from the HAGL Youth. According to data from Vietnam's Telentnet, the average annual salary of Vietnamese citizens in the first quarter of last year was 99.6 million dong (KRW 5.577,600).
Vietnam's U-23 national team failed to advance to the final after being completely defeated by China 0-3 in the semifinals. Chairman Doan Nguyen Deuk, however, said in an interview with VN Express, "I know that the players are very disappointed (with the failure to advance to the finals)," adding, "In order to encourage the players, we decided to pay the rewards announced during the semifinals in the third place match."
As a result, Vietnam's U-23 national team can expect a large reward depending on the result of the third-place match against South Korea. If they win the match against Korea, players from the HAGL Youth, such as striker Nguyen Quoc Viet, will be able to seek additional rewards that are more than double the average annual salary of the Vietnamese people in addition to the rewards paid to the Vietnamese national team.
Chairman Doan Nguyen Deuk said, "The goal of winning can be difficult and romantic, but I believe the third-place competition is possible enough. "Just reaching the semifinals in this tournament has already been successful," he said. "I know it's very difficult to beat Korea, of course, but anything can happen in soccer. We will not spare any investment in manager Kim Sang-sik and his team," he added.
In actual objective power, South Korea is far ahead of Vietnam. In previous records, South Korea has never lost to Vietnam's U-23 national team with six wins and three draws. However, if we narrow it down to the last three games, the gap is rapidly narrowing to one win and two draws. In this tournament, South Korea, led by head coach Lee Min-sung, has shown sluggish performance throughout the tournament, while Vietnam has reached the semifinals of the tournament for the first time in eight years.
Ahead of the third-place match, Vietnam's U-23 national team coach Kim Sang-sik said, "We have continued to face strong physically opponents so far, but the players showed strong determination and determination. "We have achieved a lot of growth through this tournament and I am satisfied with the process, but there is still a part to improve," he said. "I will pour everything into Korea." We have to fight to the end," he said, vowing to win.
Coach Lee Min-sung said, "There are many areas that must be improved in terms of scoring. "We need to balance to score goals and lead the game by creating more chances to win," he said. "I want to see our team continue to grow. He also said, "I hope the players will be able to maximize their own potential." The third-place match of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup between South Korea and Vietnam will be held at the King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at 00:00 a.m. on the 24th.
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*This content was translated by AI.
