Fourth round of V.League 1 fixtures postponed amid COVID-19 threat

Tran Anh Tu, chairman of the Vietnam Professional Football (VPF), said that organisers have made the decision to postpone all fixtures in the fourth round of the national league following the detection of community cases in the northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Hai Duong.

This comes after the VPF moved to delay matches between Quang Ninh Coal FC and Ho Chi Minh City FC, in addition to SHB Da Nang FC against Ha Tinh FC, in the third round of the competition.

Furthermore, other ties in the third round were held behind closed doors, including Hai Phong FC against Hanoi FC on January 30, along with Viettel FC against Becamex Binh Duong FC on January 31.

This marks the first time that the 2021 V.League 1 season has been forced to be suspended, with currently no deadline in place to resume games because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year witnessed the national league delayed twice due to the epidemic threat.

This year will see the senior national men’s football team and Vietnam’s U22 side compete in many important international tournaments, therefore the domestic league’s suspension will have a great influence over their future training plans.

The VPF had already stated plans to close the V.League 1 season on September 30 to allow both the senior national team and U22 team sufficient time to prepare for the 31st Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Cup.