On March 22, the Investigation Security Agency of Nghe An Provincial Police announced that it had just issued a decision to prosecute the case and prosecute Nguyen Thi Tu (born in 1984, residing in Ky Son Commune, Tan Ky District, Nghe An Province) for the crimes of "Forgery of documents of agencies and organizations" and "Using fake documents of agencies and organizations"; Tran Quoc Dung (born in 1971, residing in Ky Son Commune) for the crime of "Forgery of documents of agencies and organizations".
Both Ms. Nguyen Thi Tu (officer of a public service unit under the People's Committee of Tan Ky district) and Mr. Tran Quoc Dung ( Principal of Ky Son Primary School, Tan Ky district) were accused of forging records and documents to deceive the age of some young players when competing at Song Lam Nghe An Club.
This is also the first time in Nghe An that the police agency has stepped in and prosecuted the act of "Forgery of documents of agencies and organizations" related to youth football.
Age fraud is not a new problem but has existed in football of all ages, becoming an untreated "disease" of Vietnamese football for many years.
From U9, U11 to U17 tournaments, there have been many cases of players being "younged" to participate in competitions, taking advantage of their physical strength and experience. In case player B.V.B. of SLNA - a suspect born in 2010 but competed in the U9 (2022) and U11 (2024) tournaments as Lao Dong reported - is just a typical example.
This fraud not only goes against the spirit of sportsmanship, causing unfairness in competition but also delays the development strategy of youth football, when talents are truly oppressed by "impersonating" players.
This deception is systematic, coming from many sides with many causes. But the most important thing is the disease of achievements and the desire for fame of adults, from the player's family to the football club. Including teachers - head of an educational institution - such as Mr. Tran Quoc Dung.
And the direct victim of this celebration, no one else is the innocent children.
Therefore, prosecuting the case of "forging documents" in Nghe An is a necessary intervention. This is also a warning to football training centers and management agencies, that the law is no longer lenient with age fraud in football and sports competitions.
Not only Ms. Nguyen Thi Tu, Mr. Tran Quoc Dung but all those involved in this act of "forging documents" must be prosecuted, strictly handled to set an example.
Of course, doing so will be very " painful".
But young football of not only SLNA but the whole country needs to "rather a pain" to have the opportunity to forever erase the "boil" of fraud, regain purity, and return a fair playground to real talent.
