Arsenal Football Club on June 27 has sent a list of 69 members who will participate in its friendly match with Vietnam on July 17, including its best players.

Many Arsenal stars to come to Vietnam

Andrey Arshavin may not take part in the event as the website of Zenit St Petersburg have confirmed his return from Arsenal on a free transfer following his Arsenal contract’s expiry on July 1.

As planned, on July 15, Arsenal will fly from Indonesia to Hanoi. In the afternoon, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and several players will attend a press conference. In the evening, Wenger will meet with some Vietnamese football leaders.

On July 16, Wenger will have a talk with students from Hoang Anh Gia Lai Arsenal Jmg Football Institute and conduct some charity activities.

The team will leave Vietnam for Japan on July 17.

The friendly match had faced the high risk of being cancelled as the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) had become embroiled in a price war with My Dinh Stadium over the cost of stadium hire.

The stadium owners had originally only asked for VND1 billion (USD48,000), which was the highest charge the stadium had yet made. However, the owners of My Dinh Stadium suddenly decided to hike their rental price up to VND1.5 billion (USD71,428) and asked for 300 tickets.

According to VFF, inviting Arsenal along with other expenditure such as hotels and security fees would cost them at least VND40 billion (USD1.9 million). Therefore, they would have to cancel the match based on the high fee and compensation paid to Arsenal.

Following the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s intervention, the stadium management board agreed to lower the rental to VND800 million (USD38,095). Under the agreement, the organiser will only offer the stadium 50 tickets.

Vice Chairman of VFF said out of the total number of 40,000 tickets issued for the match, 12,000 will have the face value of VND400,000 (USD19). He declined to comment on information about exorbitant ticket prices given by some newspapers.

Vietnam national team coach Hoang Xuan Phuc has announced a 32 player squad, including stars such as Cong Vinh, Minh Phuong, Buu Ngoc and Hong Son.

Besides selling the tickets via agencies, the VFF will sell them through the 1080 Hanoi hotline. It will officially open the direct ticket sales at My Dinh Stadium from July 7.

The list of Arsenal’s players to Vietnam includes:

Santiango Cazorla, Daniel Henrikson, Andrey Arshavin, Mikel Arteta, Hector Bellerin, Nicklas Bendtner, Chamakh Marouane, Park Chu  Young, Coquelin Francis Denilson Pereira, Vassiriki Abou Diaby, Djourou Gbaddjere, Andre Dos Santos, Lukasz Fabianski, Emmanuel Frimpong,  Yao Kouassi Gervais, Gibbs Kieran Ricardo, Giroud Olivier, Gnabry Serge, Sead Hajrovic, Henderson Conor, Ignasi Miquel, Koscielny Laurent, Vito Manone, Martinez Romero, Per Mertesacker, Miyaichi Ryo, Ignacio Monreal, Yennaris Nicholas, kristoffer.

Olsson, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Lukas Podolski, Akpom Chuba, Samuels Campbell, Aaron Ramsey, Tomas Rosicky, Bacary Sagna, Squillaci, Sebastien, Thomas Tisfeld, Thomas Vermaelen, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Wojciech Szcsezny, Andrew Hoffmelster.