Addressing the opening ceremony, Nguyen CongKhe, head of the organising board, said that he hopes the tournament will help youngVietnamese players accumulate experience before joining the Olympic andnational teams in the next few years.
The champions will receive gold medals and acash prize of 10,000 USD. The runner-ups will get silver medals and 6,000 USD,while the third team will pockets bronze medals and 4,000 USD.
The organising board will also select the bestplayer, the best goal keeper, and the best scorer. Each of them will receive acash prize of 500 USD.
Following the opening ceremony, U19 Hoang AnhGia Lai played U19 Gwangju from the Republic of Korea. The match saw manymissing goal opportunities and concluded with a 0-0 result.
The championship, jointly organised by the ThanhNien Media Corporation and the Vietnam Football Federation, will run untilApril 22.-VNA