Vietnam’s national grassroots football championship, or Saigon Beer Cup 2013, is the largest football event in the nation with the participation of over 1,000 teams nationwide.

The VND1.5 billion (US$72,100) event will start in May, with teams to be divided into 16 qualifiers’ groups to compete in 16 venues from north to south across the nation.

The champion team in each of the 16 zones will get a cash prize of VND40 million (US$1,900) and the final champion wins VND120 million.

Teams attending the finals in Ho Chi Minh City will get allowances for food and accommodation costs.

Before, the Becamex IDC Cup was considered the largest grassroots football tournament with 200 teams taking part.

With the professional football in Vietnam having recently been marred by match fixing, violence, and poor performance by referees, grassroots football has drawn much attention from the masses and contributed a breath of fresh air to the national sports industry.

“Grassroots football is always an honest playground and players have a unique will on the field to win with their whole strengths. Professional football in Vietnam was sometimes short of the factor,” said Phan Dang Tuat, CEO of Saigon Beer.