During the pre-match ceremony, the organizers failed to play the national anthems of both countries due to a sound system malfunction. This forced the Vietnamese and Lao teams to sing their national anthems without musical accompaniment.

Approximately 2 hours after the match concluded, THASOC sent apology letters to the Vietnam Olympic Committee and the Lao Olympic Committee. The Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) and the Football Association of Thailand (FAT), which organized the men's football event, were identified as primarily responsible for the incident.

Vietnamese players perform the national anthem before their 2-1 victory over Laos in the men's football Group B opener at SEA Games 33, held at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand on 3/12. *Photo: Duc Dong*

In the letter, SAT Director Gongsak Yodmani wrote, "We extend our deepest apologies to all parties involved for the technical difficulties at the start of the match between Vietnam and Laos at Rajamangala Stadium, which resulted in the inability to perform the national anthems of both countries as planned."

The Vietnam Olympic Committee confirmed it had received the apology from the host nation.

Vietnam and Laos sing their national anthems without music. *Video: Duc Dong*

Previously, Thailand also made an error by displaying incorrect flags for the Thailand versus Indonesia women's football Group A match on 4/12. The design team mistakenly used the flag of Laos for Indonesia and the flag of Vietnam for Thailand. This image was swiftly removed from social media channels after being posted.

In late October, host nation Thailand confused the Vietnamese flag with China's during the draw ceremony for the U19 futsal Southeast Asia 2025 tournament. This error occurred during the approximately 10-minute ceremony organized by FAT. Videos of the incident were later deleted from social media platforms.

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) subsequently sent an urgent letter to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and FAT, protesting the error and demanding clarification. FAT President Nualphan Lamsam promptly issued an apology letter, then dispatched a delegation to Hanoi to convey her apologies in person. Following this, the female president also visited the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand to offer her apologies.

Hieu Luong