My Dinh National Stadium

The My Dinh National Stadium in Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi, is a multipurpose stadium. It is the centerpiece of Vietnam’s National Sports Complex and has 40,192 seats. It was officially inaugurated in September 2003 and served as the major site for the Southeast Asian Games later that year, hosting the opening and closing ceremonies as well as football and athletics competitions for men. The stadium is the home of the national football team of Vietnam and holds its international friendlies.

The 40,000-seat stadium was constructed at a cost of $53 million and is located 10 kilometers north-west of Hanoi’s city center. It is the second-largest stadium in the country in terms of capacity. The grandstands on the east and west sides of the arena are covered by arched roofs, giving shelter for half of the seats. Two football training fields are situated adjacent to the stadium to give the teams with training facilities.

As the government performed a prefeasibility study for a national sports complex in 1998, ideas for a new national stadium in Vietnam were drawn up. In preparation for the 2003 Southeast Asian Games, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai approved a project for a stadium in the center of Vietnam’s National Sports Complex in July 2000. The construction of the stadium was bid on by four companies: Hanoi International Group (HISG – China), Philipp Holzmann (Germany), Bouygues (France), and Lemna-Keystone (United States). Due to violations of technical and financial standards in HISG and Holzmann’s bids, allegations of corruption involving a French donation, and the lack of transparency in the panel’s decision-making, the process was controversial. On August 14, 2001, HISG won the bid and signed a commitment contract.

In 2002, construction on the stadium began. During the construction phase, the stadium was known as San van dong Trung tam (“central stadium”). The stadium was completed architecturally in June 2003. August 2003 marked the official renaming of the stadium to My Dnh National Stadium, after the commune in which it is located. On September 2, 2003, to coincide with Vietnam’s National Day, it was launched.