The Vietnam Football Federation Vietnam International Friendly Cup or VFF Vietnam International Friendly Cup is a football tournament organised in Vietnam. Every year the tournament is regularly held at the Mỹ Đình National Stadium in Hanoi with other foreign participants are either club teams or national teams, while the host send their national team or youth national team to compete.
History The predecessor of VFF Cup was the Independance Cup, held in 1995, 1997 and 1998.
In 2004, the tournament was rebranded to Agribank Cup until 2011 as a replacement to the Independence Cup. In 2008, it was renamed due to the withdrawal of the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) as the main sponsor. In 2012, Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) announced that the competition would no longer be played. It was then revived again in 2018 as Vinaphone Cup following the new sponsorship from Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT).
The 2021 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam before being held again in 2022.
Summary Independance Cup Year Winner Second Place Third Place Fourth Place 1995 Housing & Commercial Bank Bayi 1997 Herfølge E-Land Puma Ho Chi Minh City XI 1998 Halmstads BK Ulsan Ho Chi Minh City XI Johor
VFF Cup Year Winner Second Place Third Place Fourth Place 2004 Porto B Santa Cruz Thailand PL XI 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 South Korea Uni. Selection 2011 2012 South Korea Uni. Selection 2018 2021 Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic2022September 2024Not finished due to Typhoon YagiOctober 2024Cancelled due to Lebanon pulling out following the 2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon
Edition details 2004 Results For the first edition of the Agribank Cup Vietnam hosted the Porto Reserve team from Portugal, Santa Cruz F.C. from Brazil and the Thailand XI selection team, consisting of players from the Thailand Premier League. For this tournament the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) refused to send one of its national teams to take part, instead they sent a 'Selection Team' after the VFF insisted on Thailand's participation. The tournament lasted four days from 22 to 26 September 2004. The guest team from Portugal won the Agribank Cup after three consecutive victories and was awarded $30,000, host nation Vietnam was awarded $20,000 finishing as runners up and Santa Cruz pocketed $5,000 finishing third.
22 September 2004Porto B 1–0 Santa CruzMỹ Đình StadiumDetails22 September 2004Vietnam 2–1 Thailand XIMỹ Đình StadiumDetails24 September 2004Porto B 1–0 Thailand XIMỹ Đình StadiumDetails24 September 2004Vietnam 1–0 Santa CruzMỹ Đình StadiumDetails26 September 2004Santa Cruz 5–0 Thailand XIMỹ Đình StadiumDetails26 September 2004Vietnam 1–2 Porto BMỹ Đình StadiumDetails
2005 Results For the second tournament host nation Vietnam entered its Olympic team to compete against Olympic teams from Malaysia and Thailand as well as Japan's U-20 team. The tournament lasted from 26 to 30 October 2005. Following three consecutive victories Vietnam's team clinched the Agribank Cup with $40,000 in prize money, while Thailand and Japan took home $20,000 each after finishing second and third place respectively.
26 October 2005Thailand 2–0 Japan U-20Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails26 October 2005Vietnam 1–0 MalaysiaMỹ Đình StadiumDetails28 October 2005Vietnam 2–1 ThailandMỹ Đình StadiumDetails28 October 2005Japan U-20 4–0 MalaysiaMỹ Đình StadiumDetails30 October 2005Thailand 1–0 MalaysiaMỹ Đình StadiumDetails30 October 2005Japan U-20 1–2 VietnamMỹ Đình StadiumDetails
2006 Results The third edition of the Agribank Cup lasted from 25 to 29 October 2006. The VFF initially invited teams from Bahrain, Iceland and Thailand to participate in the tournament, but due to Iceland's withdrawal a team from New Zealand was invited to fill the void instead.
For this tournament host nation Vietnam and Thailand both entered a near full-strength team, New Zealand sent the B-team called New Zealand "A", while Bahrain used their under-21 squad.
25 October 2006Thailand 3–0 Bahrain U-21Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails25 October 2006Vietnam 1–0 New Zealand AMỹ Đình StadiumDetails27 October 2006Thailand 1–0 New Zealand AMỹ Đình StadiumDetails27 October 2006Vietnam 2–0 Bahrain U-21Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails29 October 2006Bahrain U-21 0–1 New Zealand AMỹ Đình StadiumDetails29 October 2006Vietnam 2–2 ThailandMỹ Đình StadiumDetails
2007 Results From 1 to 5 November 2007, Olympic teams from Finland, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe were invited to compete against host nation Vietnam in the tournament. The tournament winner was awarded US$40,000 in prize money, US$20,000 for the runners-up and US$10,000 for the third-place team.
Thailand withdrew from the tournament to focus on the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. To fill the void the VFF invited Zimbabwe to replace Thailand.
1 November 2007 Zimbabwe 2–3 Finland16:00Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails1 November 2007Vietnam 1–2 Uzbekistan18:30Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails3 November 2007Finland 0–2 Uzbekistan16:00Mỹ Đình Stadium3 November 2007Vietnam 2–0 Zimbabwe18:30Mỹ Đình Stadium5 November 2007 Zimbabwe 1–1 Uzbekistan16:00Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails5 November 2007Vietnam 1–2 Finland18:30Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails
2008 Results In 2008, the tournament was renamed as the T&T Cup due to changes in sponsorship. The tournament lasted from 28 October to 1 November 2008. Initially Vietnam invited national teams from North Korea, Thailand and Uzbekistan to participate in this football tournament. On 26 October the Uzbekistan Football Federation (UFF) informed tournament organisers that they won't be attending the tournament, after sending a list of twenty-five players, so only three national teams competed for this year's T&T Cup. On 1 November, the match between host nation Vietnam and Thailand was postponed due to heavy rain. The match resumed on 16 November 2008, with Thailand winning the tournament following a 2–2 draw with Vietnam.
28 October 2008Thailand 1–0 North Korea19:00Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails30 October 2008 North Korea 0–0 Vietnam19:00Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails16 November 2008 Vietnam 2–2 Thailand19:00Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails
2009 Results For the sixth edition of this tournament, the VFF agreed to a sponsorship deal with Smart Door. Hence the 2009 competition was known as the VFF Smart Door Cup. The tournament lasted from 5 to 9 November 2009. Olympic teams from China, Singapore and Thailand were the main competitors in the tournament, against host nation Vietnam. For this edition of the tournament, Vietnam's squad won the VFF Cup for the second time following their 3–1 victory over China.
5 November 2009 China 2–2 Thailand16:40Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails5 November 2009 Vietnam 1–0 Singapore20:00Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails7 November 2009 Thailand 1–1 Singapore17:50Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails7 November 2009 China 1–3 Vietnam20:00Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails9 November 2009 Singapore 0–2 China17:50Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails9 November 2009 Vietnam 0–0 Thailand20:00Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails
2010 Results The 2010 VFF Cup will be mainly sponsored by Son Ha Company to develop football in Vietnam. As of that, this year's competition was named the VFF SonHa Cup. Vietnam Football Federation had invited the national teams of Korea DPR, Singapore, and a South Korean University Selection Team. These team will be competing against the host nation team Vietnam. For this edition of the tournament, Korea DPR squad won the VFF Cup for the first time following their 2–0 victory over Vietnam. Singapore finished second and the South Korean University Selection Team was third.
2 November 2010 Korea DPR 2–1 Singapore16:45Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails2 November 2010 Vietnam 0–2 South Korean University19:00Mỹ Đình Stadium4 November 2010 South Korean University 1–1 Korea DPR17:00Mỹ Đình Stadium4 November 2010 Vietnam 1–1 Singapore19:00Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails6 November 2010 Singapore 2–0 South Korean University17:00Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails6 November 2010Vietnam 0–2 Korea DPR19:00Mỹ Đình Stadium
2011 Results
The 2011 edition of the tournament was known as the VFF-Eximbank Cup. Host nation Vietnam was represented by the Olympic team, as they were preparing for the upcoming 2011 Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia. Olympic teams from Malaysia, Myanmar and Uzbekistan were invited to take part in the tournament. On 23 October 2011, the tournament concluded with Uzbekistan winning the tournament for the second time, whereas host nation Vietnam finished as runners-up. The champions were rewarded with $25,000 in prize money, the second-placed team received $10,000 and the third-placed team was rewarded $5,000.
19 October 2011Uzbekistan 3–1 Malaysia17:00Mỹ Đình Stadium19 October 2011Vietnam 5–0 Myanmar19:15Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails21 October 2011Malaysia 2–1 Myanmar17:10Mỹ Đình Stadium21 October 2011Uzbekistan 1–1 Vietnam19:15Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails23 October 2011Myanmar 1–2 Uzbekistan17:10Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails 23 October 2011Vietnam 1–1 Malaysia19:15Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails
2012 Results
The 2012 edition was initially set to be played between hosts Vietnam, Turkmenistan, North Korea and Iran U-22. Iran and North Korea were replaced by Laos and South Korea University Selection on 10 October. The South Korean team is a selection from the University League, but it doesn't include players from the top 32 universities due to a collision with the 2012 University League Championship schedules. Laos themselves replaced the Maldives who initially looked like taking part as replacements for Iran.
24 October 2012Laos 1–4 South Korean University17:00Thống Nhất Stadium24 October 2012Vietnam 0–1 Turkmenistan19:15Thống Nhất StadiumDetails26 October 2012South Korean University 4–0 Turkmenistan17:00Thống Nhất Stadium26 October 2012Vietnam 4–0 Laos19:00Thống Nhất Stadium28 October 2012Turkmenistan 4–2 Laos17:15Thống Nhất Stadium28 October 2012Vietnam 1–1 South Korean University19:00Thống Nhất StadiumDetails
2018 Results
VFF invited the Olympic teams from Oman, Uzbekistan and Barcelona B to join the tournament. Barcelona B declined as they could not collect their best squad. Australia was then called to replace Barcelona B, but they decided to send the U-19 team as their U-23 team needed to play for clubs in FFA Cup. VFF disagreed with the Australian decision since they only wanted a U-23 or Olympic team joining the tournament. Finally, VFF contacted the Palestinian Football Association with the Palestinian agreed to send their Olympic squad to compete.
3 August 2018 Uzbekistan 0–0 Oman16:30Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails3 August 2018 Vietnam 2–1 Palestine19:30Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails5 August 2018 Uzbekistan 1–2 Palestine16:30Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails5 August 2018 Oman 0–1 Vietnam19:30Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails7 August 2018 Palestine 1–1 Oman16:30Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails7 August 2018 Vietnam 1–1 Uzbekistan19:30Mỹ Đình StadiumDetails
2021 Cancellation VFF invited the Olympic teams from Oman, Japan and Bahrain to join the tournament. But they decided to send the U-19 team as their U-23 team needed to play for clubs in FFA Cup. However, season was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2022 Results
Singapore and India were invited for participation with the host Vietnam. On 16 August 2022, All India Football Federation (AIFF) was suspended by FIFA due to undue influence from third parties, which constitutes a serious violation of the FIFA Statutes; however, this ban was lifted on 27 August and India can finally compete. Vietnam national team had its first-time ever lifting the VFF Cup trophy by winning all two matches of the tournament.
September 2024 Results
VFF invited Russia and Thailand to join the tournament. Due to impacts of Typhoon Yagi, the match scheduled on 7 September between Russia and Thailand was canceled. Consequently, there would be no winners team as the tournament was left unifinished.
October 2024 cancellation