VietNamNet Bridge – Saying they "wanted to do something for the country," several Vietnamese moguls have spent millions of US dollars to invite foreign celebrities to Vietnam to inspire youth and football teams.

1. Chairman of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group Doan Nguyen Duc & Arsenal FC

When Duc invited Arsenal, the leading football club from England to Vietnam in 2013, the public raised many money-related questions to the boss of the HAGL Group. The tycoon insisted that it was impossible to make money by organizing the match between Arsenal FC and the Vietnam national football squad.

"I want to do something for Vietnam, to warm up sports movements in our country; I’ve never thought about making money from this," he said. "It’s better to make money from doing business and production, and not seek profit from football."

However, economic experts did not think so. Duc might not directly earn money from this match, but the game could bring him a lot of money.

Mr. Vo Van Quang, an independent expert on branding and marketing, said that bringing Arsenal to Vietnam did not directly create profit for HAGL but it was a brand-building activity and the final goal was still money.

2. Hoa Sen Group Chairman Le Phuoc Vu & speaker Nick Vujicic

Successfully inviting Australian limbless speaker Nick Vujicic to Vietnam was a hallmark in 2013 for Le Phuoc Vu.

Vu’s name appeared in all newspapers and the brand Hoa Son iron became famous for paying more than $1.5 million to bring the inspiring man to Vietnam.

During the visit to Vietnam, the prices for Hoa Sen Group shares rocketed and Vu’s asset value rose by VND170 billion (nearly $5 million).

The boss of Hoa Sen Group for the first time entered the list of the 10 richest people on the Vietnamese bourse.

In an interview on the success of Hoa Sen Group, Vu said: “I’m quite happy about it but frankly, I care more about other things. It's competition, the ability to develop, to deal with challenges, changes, and the adaptation to the fierce competition in the market rather than such statistics."

Vu, a Buddhist, added: "Hoa Sen invited Nick to Vietnam to bring good values to the community. We believe that he has inspired everyone, especially people with disabilities. That is the goal of Hoa Sen."

3. SHB President Do Quang Hien & Manchester City FC

During his recent business trip to Europe, Hien paid a visit to the Manchester City FC to discuss cooperation between his corporation and the English FC, specifically the use of the FC image in commercial activities of the Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Bank.

At the meeting with the FC vice president on June 3, Mr. Damian Willoughby said that Man City did not want to go to Indonesia for friendly games because of the instability of Indonesian football. Immediately, Hien, who is also the boss of the Hanoi T&T FC, took the opportunity to invite Man City to Vietnam.

The cost for the tour of the former Premier League champion has not been disclosed. But if HAGL Group and Eximbank had to pay $2 million to bring Arsenal to Vietnam in 2013, then Hien probably had to pay millions of USD.

According to information from the representative of Man City in Vietnam, it was about 1 million pounds ($1.6 million).

European giant Manchester City will play a friendly match with the national football team on July 27 at Hanoi's My Dinh National Stadium.

Thanh Hang