The meeting aims to strengthen cooperation between the two countries' football and promote exchange activities in the coming time.
Also attending the meeting were the third Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam - Mr. Nakashima Yusuke, leaders of Kawasaki Frontale Club (J.League), representatives of the company organizing the Brains Communication friendly match and VFF General Secretary Nguyen Van Phu.
At the meeting, VFF President Tran Quoc Tuan congratulated Mr. Ito Naoki on his position as Ambassador and expressed his confidence that his term will contribute to promoting cooperation between the two countries in general and football between the two countries in particular.
The VFF President said that since VFF and the Japan Football Association (JFA) signed and upgraded a comprehensive cooperation memorandum of understanding in 2018, the two sides have maintained a substantive cooperative relationship in many fields such as coaching training, team training, sharing experiences in organizing professional tournaments and developing youth football.
According to Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan, Vietnamese teams often have plans to train and compete in Japan. Most recently, the national women's team trained in Osaka to prepare for the 2026 Asian Cup qualifiers. In the coming time, the U20 women's and U17 men's Vietnam teams will go to Japan for training to prepare for international tournaments.
In addition, nearly 18 coaches from V.League, First Division and national teams are participating in the Pro coaching class phase 2 at the Japan National Football Center. This class is directly taught by experts from JFA and VFF.
In terms of personnel, many Japanese experts are working in Vietnam as technical directors, tournament operators or coaches at clubs and teams. Currently, the head coach of the Vietnam U20 women's team is Mr. Okiyama Masahiko and there will be another Japanese expert in charge of the men's youth team.
Ambassador Ito Naoki expressed his pleasure at having the opportunity to work with VFF and highly appreciated the potential for cooperation between the two football regions. He emphasized the role of football as a cultural bridge and pledged to continue supporting the promotion of cooperation between JFA and VFF.
On this occasion, Ambassador Ito Naoki forwarded the proposal of Kawasaki Frontale club to organize a friendly match with a Vietnamese club to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Vietnam National Day (September 2, 1945 - September 2, 2025). The match is expected to open a new direction of cooperation between Japanese clubs and Vietnamese football, especially in the field of youth training.
The VFF President welcomed the proposal and said that this is a good opportunity to expand in-depth cooperation between clubs of the two countries. The two sides agreed to assign relevant units to coordinate in preparing for the event to be organized effectively.
