Has Vietnamese women's volleyball truly reached world-class level?

There are a number of facts that show that Vietnamese women's volleyball has truly reached world-class level, from competition results to expert assessments.

Thanh Thúy is expected to be the 14th best female football player in the world in 2025 - Photo: VAT

Do the numbers lie?

Just half a day after the Vietnamese national team achieved a historic victory against Thailand on August 10th to win the second leg of the SEA V.League 2025, the volleyball website Volleybox updated its ranking of the best athletes of the year - based on team and individual achievements.

Surprisingly, four Vietnamese girls made it into the top 100 of this ranking. They are Tran Thi Thanh Thuy - ranked 14th (327.85 points), Nguyen Khanh Dang - ranked 27th (235.25 points), Nguyen Thi Bich Tuyen - ranked 85th (169.25 points), and Vi Thi Nhu Quynh - ranked 86th (169 points).

It's worth noting that Volleybox is highly regarded for its credibility in the world of top-level volleyball, similar to Transfermarkt in football, both being websites heavily involved in player transfers and valuations.

This website ranks players based on both team and individual achievements. For example, Bich Tuyen, after winning the SEA V.League championship, earned an additional 25 points - 10 from the team championship title and 15 from the individual "best opposite hitter" award.

That's on an individual level, but on a collective level, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team has risen to 22nd in the world rankings, just one place behind Thailand.

Khanh Dang also made it into the world's top rankings - Photo: VAT

Vietnam is now aiming to break into the top 18 – a group that could qualify for the VNL next season. The gap to this group is around 30 points, a difficult gap to reach considering Vietnam's next tournament is the 2025 World Championship.

But if they persevere, it's not out of the question that Vietnam will soon qualify for the ranking next year. Simply maintaining their form in tournaments like the AVC Nations Cup could bring in a lot of points, while teams higher up like Thailand are likely to drop in the rankings due to defeats in the VNL.

Are the numbers lying? Unfortunately, in this case, the numbers probably... aren't really telling the truth.

Be realistic about the numbers.

Even the most confident Vietnamese fans probably wouldn't dare dream that Thanh Thúy could actually be the 14th best female player in the world, even just considering the year 2025.

According to Volleybox's rankings, the girl from Binh Duong even ranks above top world superstars like Karakurt (Turkey), Kudiess (Binh Duong)..., and higher than all the stars in Japan.

Why is Thanh Thúy ranked so highly? Simply because she participated in and won a series of smaller tournaments (compared to world-class standards) such as the VTV Cup (champion, 8 points), Hoa Lư Cup (3 points), Hùng Vương Cup (3 points), AVC Nations Cup (17.5 points)...

Thanh Thúy's breakthrough, as well as Khánh Đang's in 2025, will come from finishing as runners-up in the AVC Champions League – a tournament considered the continent's top competition, yet completely devoid of Japanese representatives in 2025.

The way world volleyball tournaments are organized has long been a subject of much debate, with top-tier competitions overlapping smaller, less prestigious ones.

Vietnamese athletes pulled far ahead of Thailand in terms of points - Photo: VAT

And once they choose to compete at the highest level, volleyball teams (and their players) cannot possibly score points from lower-level competitions.

A prime example is Thailand, who participate in the VNL and therefore skip the AVC Nations Cup (a tournament that Vietnam has won consecutively in recent years).

However, in the VNL, Thailand mostly received negative points, suffering consecutive defeats against top-ranked teams from around the world.

Then, upon returning to the SEA V.League, Thailand did not receive any points for their performance in this tournament (even though they won the first leg and 2 out of 3 matches in the second leg) due to regulations from the FIVB (International Volleyball Federation).

The FIVB's regulations and tournament organization leave significant loopholes in the scoring system. Strong teams participate in major tournaments and gain regular experience, but the downside is that they struggle to accumulate points compared to participating in lower-level competitions.

At this rate, it is highly likely that Vietnamese volleyball will continue to climb higher in the world rankings in 2026.

But only when they actually step onto the VNL stage, a tournament that regularly provides opportunities for Thanh Thúy and Bích Tuyền to face top superstars from Italy, the USA, Brazil, Japan, and other countries, can fans truly witness the real level of Vietnamese volleyball.

 

HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bong-chuyen-nu-viet-nam-da-thuc-su-dat-dang-cap-the-gioi-2025081121554058.htm