On April 3, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) officially responded to the incident related to the controversial decision of referee Nguyen Van Phuc and the VAR referee team in the match between Binh Duong and Phu Dong Ninh Binh in the quarter-finals of the 2024-2025 National Cup.
This wrong decision directly affected the result of the match, especially the penalty situation in the 90+3 minute.
VFF said that in this situation, referee Nguyen Van Phuc consulted with the VAR referee team and decided to award a penalty to Phu Dong Ninh Binh team when the score was 2-1 in favor of Binh Duong.
However, after careful consideration, VFF determined that this decision was incorrect, because the VAR team had mis judged the collision situation in the penalty area.
This error was determined to be a professional error of referee Nguyen Van Phuc and members of the VAR team, including FIFA referee Ngo Duy Lan and VAR assistant Pham Hoai Tam. Therefore, all 3 referees will have to be disciplined depending on the level of violation.
According to VFF, these referees will be temporarily suspended from their duties in the coming time, to ensure compliance with FIFA regulations and the regulations of the 2024-2025 National Cup tournament.
In this controversial situation, Binh Duong goalkeeper Tran Minh Toan rushed out to catch the ball and collided with a player from Phu Dong Ninh Binh team in the penalty area.
Although the match continued, after receiving advice from the VAR team, referee Nguyen Van Phuc decided to stop the match and awarded the away team a penalty. Hoang Duc did not miss the opportunity, scoring the equalizer 2-2 for Phu Dong Ninh Binh.
As a result, the match had to enter a penalty shootout, where Binh Duong beat their opponents with a score of 5-4, thereby winning the right to enter the semi-finals of the 2024-2025 National Cup.
