HA NOI — The inspectorate of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism yesterday confirmed the legality of the proposed 20-year contract between the Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF) and the Audio Vision Global Company (AVG).

After reviewing relevant contract law, the Ministry's inspection team concluded that the VFF had followed all the necessary procedures to transfer its football match television rights to the AVG.

Regarding the 20-year term, the inspection team said the existing civil and commercial laws of Viet Nam place no limit on the length of a contract.

The Ministry of Justice has already affirmed that the telecast deal is valid. It remains to be seen how this latest decision will impact the dispute between AVG and the Viet Nam Professional Football Company (VPF), the current operator of Viet Nam's top flight tournament, over television rights.

The VPF announced the illegality of the contract and sent official documents to the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Information and Communications on January 4, requesting verification of the legality of the contract between the VFF and AVG. AVG also submitted an official document to the sports ministry to with the same request. — VNS