Mỹ Đình National Stadium
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The Mỹ Đình National Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Nam Từ Liêm district,
Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...
,
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
. It has a capacity of 40,192 seats and is the centerpiece of Vietnam's National Sports Complex. It was officially opened in September 2003 and was the main venue for the
Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...
later that year, hosting the opening and closing ceremony as well as the men's
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
and athletics events. The stadium is home to the
Vietnam national football team The Vietnam national football team () represents Vietnam in men's senior international association football and is controlled by the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), the governing body of football in Vietnam. The team's nickname is the Golde ...
, and hosts its home international matches. Located 10 kilometres north-west of central Hanoi, the 40,192-seat stadium is the second biggest in the country in terms of capacity and was built at a cost of US$53 million. Arched roofs cover the grandstands on the east and west sides of the arena, providing shelter for half of the seats. The area provides training facilities for the teams with two football training grounds located next to the stadium. Since 2021, the stadium has attracted complaints mainly about the quality of the pitch, starting with its hosting of the Vietnam–Australia match in the third AFC qualification round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It has since come under further scrutiny after hosting
Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...
in an international friendly, of which the goalpost was broken mid-game, and Southeast Asian teams in the 2022 AFF Championship. The delay in the renovation of My Dinh Stadium, despite the huge funding provided by the Vietnamese government, has led to several allegations of corruption and lack of financial transparency on the part of the Stadium Management Board.


History

Ideas for a new national stadium in Vietnam were marked up in 1998 as the government conducted a prefeasibility study for a national sports complex. In July 2000, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Văn Khải approved a project of a stadium at the heart of Vietnam's National Sports Complex in preparation for hosting the 2003 Southeast Asian Games. Four firms, namely Hanoi International Group (HISG - China), Philipp Holzmann (Germany),
Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French engineering group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the ...
(France), and Lemna-Keystone (United States), participated in the bidding of the stadium's construction. The process was controversial due to violations of technical and financial requirements in HISG and Holzmann's bids, corruption allegations involving a French donation, and the intransparency in the panel's decision making. In the end, HISG won the bid and signed a commitment contract on August 14, 2001. Construction on the stadium started in 2002. During the development phase, the stadium was referred to as ''Sân vận động Trung tâm'' ("central stadium"). The stadium was architecturally complete in June 2003. In August 2003, the stadium was officially named ''Mỹ Đình National Stadium'', taking after the name of the commune area the stadium is located within. It was inaugurated on September 2, 2003, to coincide with Vietnam's National Day.


Interior


Stands

Mỹ Đình has 4 stands. The A & B stands (or east and west stands, respectively) are covered each by an arched roof weighing 2,300 tonnes. These two stands have two tiers and are tall while the C & D stands (or south and north stands) are single-tiered and tall. In total, the stadium has a capacity of 40,192 seats, including 450 VIP seats and 160 seats for journalists.


Field

The playing grass field has a size of 105m x 67m, surrounded by an 8-lane athletics track and other athletics facilities.


Events


Sporting events

The stadium officially opened on September 2, 2003, with the opening
friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...
between the Vietnam U23 and Shanghai Shenhua from
Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...
. It hosted the 2003 Southeast Asian Games (
opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.
,
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
and athletics, closing ceremony), 2003 ASEAN Para Games. The
Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...
football club was scheduled to play at the stadium, but later backed out of their agreement, citing the embarrassment of using an 40,000+ seat venue for games that routinely draw only slightly more than 5,000. In July 2007, Mỹ Đình Stadium hosted the Group B of 2007 AFC Asian Cup along with Quân khu 7 Stadium (
Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...
), quarter-final match (Japan vs Australia) and semi-final match (Japan vs Saudi Arabia). Mỹ Đình Stadium held the opening ceremony of the 2009 Asian Indoor Games from October 30, 2009, to November 8. In December 2010, it held Group B of 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup from December 2 to December 8. The stadium hosted sections of the 2021 Southeast Asian Games, in particular the
opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.
, and
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
and athletics events. In addition, this stadium held many domestic and international football competitions: * 2008 AFC Champions League (
Nam Định Nam Định () is the capital city of Nam Định province in the Red River Delta of the Northern Vietnam. History From August 18–20 of each year, there is a festival held in Nam Định called the Cố Trạch. This celebration honors Gener ...
selected this stadium as its own Thiên Trường Stadium did not meet AFC's criteria) * 2008 The stadium held an international friendly match between
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
and Olympic Brazil * 2010 VFF Cup * 2011 V-League (25th round match between Hà Nội ACB and Sông Lam Nghệ An) * 2011 VFF Cup * 2012 Football at the Summer Olympics – Men's Asian Qualifiers Playoff Round The three runners-up from the third round groups played each other at a neutral venue on 25, 27 and 29 March 2012. Vietnam was later chosen by the AFC Competitions Committee as the neutral venue, with games played at Hanoi's Mỹ Đình Stadium. * On 17 July 2013, the stadium held an international friendly match between
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
and
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
. * On 27 July 2015, the stadium held an international friendly match between
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
and
Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
. * On September 7, 2021, the stadium hosted the first match in the
2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC third round The third round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC), AFC matches for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was played from 2 September 2021 to 29 March 2022. Format The twelve teams that advanced from the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification ...
between
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
and
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. This is also the first time VAR and Goal-line have been applied in Vietnam (made by Hawk-Eye Innovations Ltd). * On 30 November 2022, the stadium held an international friendly match between
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
and
Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...
, which saw a shock host win of 2-1 after a controversial second goal in the last minutes of the match. *
2023–24 AFC Champions League The 2023–24 AFC Champions League was the 42nd edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 21st and final under the AFC Champions League title, as the competition would be rebra ...
(
Hanoi FC Hanoi Football Club (), officially named CLB Hà Nội, is a professional football club based in Hanoi, Vietnam. They play their home matches at Hang Day Stadium and compete in V.League 1, the top division in the Vietnamese football league sy ...
selected this stadium as its own
Hàng Đẫy Stadium Hàng Đẫy Stadium (), also known as Hanoi Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 22,500 spectators; however, due to the dilapidating condition, the upper leve ...
did not meet AFC's criteria).


Entertainment events

Mỹ Đình National Stadium has hosted various entertainment events. On March 27, 2010, an MTV EXIT concert was held here with the appearance of Korean boy band
Super Junior Super Junior (; stylized in all caps), also known as SJ or SuJu, is a South Korean boy band. The group is composed of Leeteuk, Heechul, Yesung, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Siwon, Donghae, Ryeowook, and Kyuhyun. Han Geng, Kibum, and ...
, Australian singer Kate Miller-Heidke, along with other local Vietnamese singers. On October 1, 2011, the Irish boyband
Westlife Westlife are an Irish pop group formed in Dublin in 1998. The group consists of members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. Brian McFadden was a member before leaving in March 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reun ...
performed at the stadium as a part of their Gravity Tour; about 11,000 people attended the concert. The stadium was also the starting location of the 2012 season of The Amazing Race Vietnam. On May 26, 2013, MTV EXIT held a concert featuring the Canadian pop punk band
Simple Plan Simple Plan is a Canadian rock band formed in Montreal, Quebec, in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of Pierre Bouvier (lead vocals, studio bass guitar), Chuck Comeau (drums), Jeff Stinco (lead guitar), and Sébastien Lefebvre (rhyt ...
. The stadium has also been the venue for various
K-pop K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...
concerts. It was the venue for a special concert of MBC's
Music Core ''Show! Music Core'' (), or simply ''Music Core'' is a South Korean music television program broadcast by MBC. It airs live every Saturday at 15:30 (KST). The show features some of the latest and most popular artists who perform live on stage. I ...
on December 8, 2012, KBS's Music Bank World Tour on March 28, 2015,
Asia Artist Awards Asia Artist Awards (; abbreviated AAA) is an awards ceremony organized by South Korea-based business newspaper ''Money Today'' and its global media brands StarNews and MTN. This honors the outstanding achievements and international contribution ...
on November 26, 2019, and two
Born Pink ''Born Pink'' is the second studio album by South Korean girl group Blackpink. It was released on September 16, 2022, through YG Entertainment and Interscope Records. It marked the group's first full-length record since ''The Album (Blackpink al ...
concerts by girl group
Blackpink Blackpink (, stylized in all caps or as BLɅϽKPIИK) is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment. The group is composed of four members: Jisoo, Jennie (singer), Jennie, Rosé (singer), Rosé, and Lisa (rapper), Lisa. Regarded by ...
on July 29 and 30, 2023.


Tournament results

The stadium has hosted several international FIFA and AFC matches. Here is a list of the most important international matches held at the stadium.


2003 Southeast Asian Games (U-23)


2006 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round


2004 AFF Championship The 2004 AFF Championship (officially known as the 2004 Tiger Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 5th edition of the AFF Championship, the football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), and the last time und ...


2007 AFF Championship The 2007 AFF Championship (officially designated as the ASEAN Football Championship 2007) was the 6th edition of the AFF Championship, the Association football, football championship of Southeast Asia. The group stage was co-hosted by Singapore ...


2007 AFC Asian Cup The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its h ...


2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC first round This page provides the summaries of the AFC first round matches for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification. Format In this round teams ranked 6–24 were randomly drawn against teams ranked 25–43, and the draw took place on 6 August 2007 in the ...


2008 AFF Championship The 2008 AFF Championship was the seventh edition of the tournament. It was primarily sponsored by Suzuki and therefore officially known as the 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup. The group stage was held in Indonesia and Thailand from 5 to 10 December 2008. T ...


2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification The 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification saw various countries take part to determine 10 spots to the final tournament in Qatar under the new qualification system set by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Six other teams also qualified for th ...


2010 AFF Championship The 2010 AFF Championship, sponsored by Suzuki and P&G and officially known as the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup, was the 8th edition of the AFF Championship, took place on 1–29 December 2010. Indonesia and Vietnam hosted the group stage from 1 to 8 De ...


2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round This page provides the summaries of the AFC second round matches for 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification. Format In this round the eight winners from the first round joined the 22 AFC sides seeded 6–27 in the AFC World Cup rankings. The teams we ...


2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification The 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification was a qualification process organized by the AFC to determine the participating teams for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. The 2015 AFC Asian Cup, hosted by Australia, featured 16 teams. In the initial scheme, ten pl ...


2014 AFF U-19 Youth Championship


2014 AFF Championship


2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round The second round of AFC matches for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification (and 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification) was played from 24 May 2015 to 29 March 2016. Format A total of forty teams (teams ranked 1–34 in the AFC entrant list and six ...


2016 AFF Championship The 2016 AFF Championship, sponsored by Suzuki and officially known as the AFF Suzuki Cup 2016, was the 11th edition of the AFF Championship, the Association football, football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation ...


2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification – third round


2018 AFF Championship The 2018 AFF Championship was the 12th edition of the AFF Championship, the Association football, football championship of nations affiliated to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF), and the 6th under the name AFF Suzuki Cup. This was the first t ...


2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) The Asian section of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in Qatar for national teams who are members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Apart from Qatar national football team, Qata ...


2021 Southeast Asian Games (U-23)


2022 AFF Championship


2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC second round The second round of 2026 FIFA World Cup AFC qualification, which also served as the second round of 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification, began on 16 November 2023 and was completed on 11 June 2024. Format A total of 36 teams were drawn into nine g ...


Entertainment events


Controversies


2010 fireworks explosion

At approximately 11:40 local time on October 6, 2010, an explosion occurred at the stadium. The cause was confirmed to be the ignition of two firework containers due to negligence in the installation of their detonation position; this was a rehearsal for a programme commemorating the millennial anniversary of the establishment of Thăng Long (present-day Hanoi), which was scheduled to be held on October 10. The explosion killed four people and injured three.


Deteriorating pitch quality and equipment


2021 and SEA Games 31

Since the second half of 2021, criticism had been raised regarding the quality of the pitch and facilities at the stadium. In September 2021, the Vietnamese national team hosted Australia in the third round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers; Australian media and fans at the time compared the Mỹ Đình pitch to a "cow pasture". According to the ''Lao Động'' newspaper, the stadium's turf had not been renovated for nearly a decade. In addition, some areas of the stadium had fallen into disrepair due to lack of maintenance. At the request of the
Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...
(AFC), the stadium was renovated by the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ahead of hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and the 2021 Southeast Asian Games. Ahead of the
2021 SEA Games The 2021 Southeast Asian Games (), officially known as the 31st Southeast Asian Games, 31st SEA Games or SEA Games 31, and also recognized as Viet Nam 2021, were the 31st edition of the Southeast Asian Games, the biennial regional multi-sport e ...
, the Vietnamese government granted more than to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to repair the stadium alongside the wider National Sports Complex. However, the replacement of the turf was not carried out. Up until the third-place match and the final of the men's football event at the 2021 SEA Games, the turf had been damaged due to the installation of the stage for the opening ceremony.


Vietnam–Borussia Dortmund friendly match incident

On November 30, 2022, in a friendly match between Vietnam and
Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...
, in the 86th minute of the match, the crossbar of the Dortmund goal was knocked out, causing the match to be interrupted for 5 minutes. In addition, during the half-time break, the technical area of the two teams and the referee's area were blown over many times by the wind.


2022 AFF Cup

Criticism of the stadium's condition continued throughout 2022 and 2023. Ahead of the 2022 AFF Cup, the
Vietnam Football Federation The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF; ) is the governing body of football in Vietnam. It is responsible for the all Vietnamese teams of association football, futsal and beach soccer as well as national competitions. VFF is currently a member of ...
(VFF) signed a contract with the National Sports Complex to rent Mỹ Đình as the home stadium of the Vietnamese national team. The rental fee for each match of the Vietnamese national team is , the highest in the venue's history. However, the stadium's turf was described as old, faded, and poor, while not all of its seats had been replaced since their initial installation in 2003. According to the Hanoi Tax Department, the National Sports Complex owed in taxes as of 2023. According to the Director General of the General Department of Physical Education and Sports, Đặng Hà Việt, maintenance and care work had been carried out regularly in the past month, but the city's weather conditions had made the stadium's pitch not as green as expected. Moreover, the AFC had assessed that the Mỹ Đình pitch is still in good condition for competition. However, the claim that the pitch's deterioration was due to weather conditions was considered baseless, as the pitch was described to be of good quality when the Vietnamese national team hosted China in the third round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in early 2023. On January 4, 2023, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính commented on the condition of the stadium, questioning the claim that it was not being exploited. In an effort to address the deteriorating condition ahead of the Vietnam–Indonesia match on January 9, the Vietnamese Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyễn Văn Hùng on January 6 requested the Rector of Bắc Ninh University of Physical Education to organize a volunteer activity in which its students would clean up the stadium.


See also

* List of football stadiums in Vietnam *
Lists of stadiums The following are lists of stadiums throughout the world. Note that horse racing and motorsport venues are not included at some pages, because those are not stadiums but sports venues. Combined lists *List of stadiums by capacity * List of c ...


References


External links


SÂN VẬN ĐỘNG QUỐC GIA MỸ ĐÌNH (MY DINH NATIONAL STADIUM)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:My Dinh National Stadium Mỹ Đình Sports venues completed in 2003 Football venues in Vietnam Athletics (track and field) venues in Vietnam Stadiums in Hanoi
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
2003 establishments in Vietnam Multi-purpose stadiums in Vietnam Southeast Asian Games stadiums