The 2026 Gia Lai U14 International Football Festival will take place from May 11 to 15 at Pleiku Arena stadium and Ham Rong Training Center (Hoang Anh Gia Lai Football Academy), Gia Lai province.
This year's tournament attracted 12 participating teams, including 5 domestic teams including Hoang Anh Gia Lai youth teams, Truong Tuoi Dong Nai, PVF Center, Hanoi FC and Song Lam Nghe An. In addition, 7 international teams also participated, including the youth team of Jubilo Iwata (Japan), Chonburi (Thailand), U14 Malaysia....
The teams were divided into 3 groups, each group with 4 teams. The teams will play in a single round-robin format, selecting the top 2 teams in each group, along with 2 teams ranked 3rd with the best results to compete in the quarter-finals, to the semi-finals and finals. In order to increase the exchange and friction between youth football teams, the organizers also organize matches for 5-8 and 9-12 places. The total prize value of the tournament is up to 40,000 USD.
The festival is co-organized by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Gia Lai province and Hoang Anh Gia Lai Sports Joint Stock Company. This is one of the tournaments in the series of cultural, sports, and tourism events of the National Tourism Year - Gia Lai 2026 to contribute to promoting the image of people and cultural identity of Gia Lai to international friends.
The event announcement ceremony on the afternoon of April 16 in Ho Chi Minh City attracted the participation of Mr. Bui Trung Hieu, Deputy Director of Gia Lai Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan - Chairman of Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc - Chairman of LPBank Hoang Anh Gia Lai Club, Mr. Park Hang-seo - former coach of the Vietnamese national team, along with other guests from the locality, VFF....
Speaking at the event, Bau Duc (Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc) placed high expectations on the Gia Lai International Youth Football Festival 2026. He emphasized that the organization of this tournament originated from personal thoughts, combined with the tourism year of Gia Lai province. After that, he discussed with Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan to reach an agreement to organize this tournament in Gia Lai.
Regarding the set criteria, domestic teams participating must have youth football training centers. The main purpose is for players to compete and learn from each other. With foreign teams, almost every team has a youth training center, participating teams must have a certain similarity in the scale of youth training like Hoang Anh Gia Lai," Bau Duc shared.
Regarding the risk of age fraud, Bau Duc said that the organizers and VFF have also discussed this issue. "This is an international youth football tournament, and age fraud only exists in adults, no one in young age cheats. What is cheating for when this is just a youth tournament for exchange and learning from each other," Bau Duc shared. With those goals, according to Bau Duc, teams will not have the motivation to do this.
Meanwhile, Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan - Chairman of VFF emphasized that the tournament is a very meaningful event, when youth football centers at home and abroad exchange with each other. According to him, this is an opportunity for young Vietnamese football players to have the opportunity to experience and improve their professional skills as well as international experience to aim for long-term goals.
