Many football fans in Ho Chi Minh City eagerly spent several hours on Sunday morning queuing to buy tickets for the Vietnam - Afghanistan friendly, scheduled for Wednesday evening at Thong Nhat Stadium in the southern city’s District 10.

The long queues started as soon as 6:00 am on Sunday, three hours before the official opening of ticket sales.

The match is meant to kick off the Vietnamese national football team’s campaign toward the 2022 AFF Cup, a biennial championship organized by the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) where Vietnam lifted the trophy twice in 2008 and 2018.

Wednesday’s game will also be the first time Ho Chi Minh City football fans have had the opportunity to watch the golden generation of footballers play in the city since the last friendly between the under-23 teams of Vietnam and the UAE took place at Thong Nhat Stadium on October 13, 2019.

During the tenure of head coach Park Hang Seo, Vietnam have garnered quite a few achievements in the past four years, including becoming the runners-up at the under-23 Asian championship in 2018, the winners of the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup, the 2019 Asian Cup quarterfinalists, the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games champions, and playing in the final stage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for Asia for the first time.

However, no games of those events took place in Ho Chi Minh City.

“I came here to queue as soon as 6:00 am over concerns that the tickets will be sold out fast,” said Le Anh Thu, a football fan.

“Seeing the long lines of people waiting here upon my arrival made me more worried.

“So I’m happy now that I’ve successfully bought the tickets to cheer for the Vietnamese players with my friends.”

Thong Nhat Stadium has a capacity of 15,000 people.

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) allocated 11,000 seats in A4, A5, and B stands, whose par value is VND300,000 (US$13) per ticket, and C and D stands, whose par value is VND150,000 ($6.5) per ticket, for sale.

Meanwhile, seats in the other stands will be spared for invitations for officials, VFF partners, and members of the Vietnamese team.

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