A football event has been hosted by Vietnamese students in France to raise funds for Vietnam’s Covid-19 vaccination fund, joining hands with the government to stamp out the pandemic.

Participating teams receive the souvenir flag from the organising committee. Source: SVLille - Vietnamese Student Association in Lille

The fundraising event was held by the Union of Vietnamese Students in France (UEVF), within the framework of its NNB - Coupe de Lille 2021 summer football tournament, reported NDO on July 6.

This is a sideline event of the campaign to mobilise 10,000 vaccine doses for Vietnam, jointly launched by the UEVF, the Association of Vietnamese People in France (UGVF) and other unions in the European country, contributing to Vietnam’s Covid-19 vaccine fund, an initiative aiming to provide enough vaccines for the inoculation of at least 75% of the country’s population.

So far, the campaign is at about the halfway mark.

The opening ceremony was attended by Hoang Manh Hien, First Secretary in charge of overseas students at the Vietnamese Embassy in France; Nguyen Khanh Linh, UEVF President; Nghiem Thi Ha Giang, UEVF Vice President, with the presence of sponsors Lille-based Saigon 2 Restaurant, Cocoxim, and Taptap Send.

Ambassador of Vietnam in France Dinh Toan Thang, although he unable to attend the tournament, still wished all the success of the event and good luck to all the participants. He also welcomed the proactive and positive spirit of the student union in creating a playground for the community as well as organising a fundraising event for the homeland's vaccine fund.

The AEVTL team from Toulouse City (France) take the overall trophy. Source: SVLille - Vietnamese Student Association in Lille

After two years of suspension due to the impacts of the pandemic, the UEVF’s sport, cultural and academic activities have resumed following the French government’s decision to ease a few Covid-19 restrictions, starting with the NNB - Coupe de Lille 2021 football tournament.

The tournament is part of the UEVF’s NNB football system that debut in 2000 for the Vietnamese community in France. The event offers a healthy playground for young people with passion for football as well as a platform for connecting the overseas Vietnamese community.

This year’s tournament brought together six teams from France and two from Belgium who competed in two groups for slots in the knockout phase.

The AEVTL team from France’s Toulouse City held off the CVAms+ from Paris in the final match to take the overall trophy, thus bringing the tournament to a successful end.

A total of 16 matches took place in vibrant atmosphere. Source: SVLille - Vietnamese Student Association in Lille

Photo: Vu Hoang Minh

Photo: Vu Hoang Minh

Photo: Vu Hoang Minh

An additional 645 cases of Covid-19 were detected as of 6pm July 8, raising the number of cases logged in the past 24 hours to 1,314, including 7 imported cases and 1,307 domestic infections, according to the Vietnam's Health Ministry.

The national tally reached 24,385, of which 22,487 were local infections.

As of 4:00pm on July 7, nearly 4 million vaccine doses had been conducted. A total of 241,913 people have received two sufficient doses.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 vaccine fund had received VND 8,076 billion (USD 351 million) from 409,872 organisations and individuals.

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Hannah Nguyen