Phu Nhuan Jewelry Joint Stock Company has announced that it would award gold medals to all 31 players and support staff of the U23 football team when they return home.

PNJ on January 26 launched a programme called “23 hours, together with PNJ to create a Gold Belief medal set for U23 Vietnam” to exhort football lovers and in fact the entire country to extend their moral support to the team before they play the final.

The programme will run from 3pm on January 26 to 2pm on January 27 (one hour before the final kicks off), and PNJ has called on fans to change their Facebook avatar to the programme’s theme

The gold medal set will start with a weight of one kilogramme and gradually increase in proportion to the number of avatars changed until it reaches 2.3kg (equivalent to VND3 billion (US$132,158)) if at least one million people have made the change.

PNJ will also produce a set of 23 gold-plated medals to gift to fans taking part in the programme.

Also on the same day PNJ’s charity fund gave gifts worth a total of VND500 million ($22,017) to 800 poor people in HCM City to celebrate Tet under its “Lovely Spring” programme.

The beneficiaries live in Phu Nhuan and Go Vap districts or are members or staff of the Phu Nhuan District Blind Association. — VNS