In the draw held by the FAT in Bangkok on Tuesday, Vietnam's draw included the image of the Chinese flag, surprising many spectators and reporters watching online.
The video of the ceremony was later removed from FAT's social media platforms.
A screenshot shows a ticket for Vietnam with Chinese national flag displayed at the draw of the 2025 Southeast Asian U19 Futsal Tournament in Thailand, Oct. 28, 2025.
The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) sent an urgent dispatch to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and FAT later on Tuesday, opposing and requesting clarification of the incident. According to VFF, this serious incident could affect the image of Vietnam and negatively impact the solidarity of ASEAN.
FAT issued a press release overnight and also outlined steps to handle the situation.
In the press release, vice president Benjasiriwan, who was in charge of futsal and beach football, expressed "sincere apology to VFF and the Vietnamese people for this unfortunate incident."
He said FAT had established a special investigation committee to clarify the responsibilities of the individuals involved. Initial results determined that the error came from the event organizers, not the AFF or FAT, according to Matichon.
"We sincerely hope that VFF and the Vietnamese people will accept the apology and forgive this unintentional error," the release said. "This was a human error, with absolutely no intention of disrespecting the country of Vietnam."
Adisak Benjasiriwan, Vice President of the Football Association of Thailand at FAT headquarter in Thailand. Photo courtesy of FAT
FAT president Madam Pang also sent an official letter to both VFF and AFF, and assigned Benjasiriwan to lead a delegation to Vietnam to directly apologize, express goodwill to overcome the situation and maintain a strong cooperative relationship between the two football scenes.
According to VnExpress, the delegation will work with VFF leaders in Hanoi on Wednesday afternoon. The two parties will not hold a press conference.
Madam Pang also affirmed that this incident is a profound lesson and pledged to strengthen the image and content censorship process in international events hosted by Thailand.
"FAT will always maintain the highest standards of professionalism and respect in all our activities," she said.
Flag mistake has happened in previous Southeast Asian sports events. At the SEA Games 29 in Malaysia and the SEA Games 32 in Cambodia, the Indonesian flag was displayed upside down, becoming the Polish flag. After the incident at the SEA Games 29, Malaysian Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin also met his Indonesian counterpart in person to apologize.
The 2025 ASEAN U19 Boys’ Futsal Championship is scheduled to take place from Dec. 23 to 29 in Nonthaburi Province, Thailand, with seven teams: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Vietnam are in Group A with host Thailand and Brunei.
