Vietnamese women's volleyball dreams of going to the big sea

Three consecutive years of having representatives enter the finals of the Asian Championship and then qualify for the World Cup, is Vietnamese women's volleyball really as strong as expected?

One or two times can still be considered lucky, but the fact that Vietnamese women's volleyball has been present in the finals of the AVC Women's Club Championship (this season has a new name, AVC Women's Volleyball Champions League) for 3 consecutive seasons is completely worthy of the respect of the regional volleyball community.

A journey to be proud of

There may be many opinions that volleyball powerhouses such as China, Japan or Thailand rarely send their best teams to participate in continental competitions because their level is beyond their reach, thereby giving opportunities to mid-level opponents. Reality shows that any arena has unpredictable factors and achievements are always something to be cherished.

VTV Binh Dien Long An won a ticket to the World Cup at the end of 2025. Photo: THIEN HOANG

The achievements of LPBank Ninh Binh and VTV Binh Dien Long An over the past two years show that Vietnamese women's volleyball at the club level has gathered enough strength to compete for high rankings in the continental tournament system. If LPBank Ninh Binh's miracle is a testament to the right investment in a young and ambitious team, then for VTV Binh Dien Long An, this is the result of long-term development on the foundation of a professional sports team with enough young successors.

Not only catching up and surpassing many regional opponents, Vietnamese volleyball teams have been able to compete on equal terms with many strong names. LPBank Ninh Binh defeated Kuanysk (Kazakhstan) in the semi-finals of the 2024 season, VTV Binh Dien Long An even defeated Saipa Tehran (Iranian champion), Taipower Kaohsiung (Chinese Taiwan runner-up), Beijing BAIC Motor (Chinese 4th place) on the way to the finals of the 2025 season.

As the only team in the tournament to take a game from the champion Zhetysu (Kazakhstan), Thanh Thuy's team showed that if they had enough depth in their squad, they could play on par with, or even surpass, this extremely strong opponent. In fact, Zhetysu relied heavily on the trio of Ukrainian "foreign players" with superior skills and height in their squad in this Asian Cup campaign.

Sweet fruit from thorough investment

For many years, VTV Binh Dien Long An has been a development model that many localities have learned from, although the way of doing things cannot be copied. Rarely does a football team have all the players from talent, youth to the first team trained according to a unified and systematic program.

The Western team has won every title of Vietnamese volleyball on its development journey, using resources developed and trained locally. Many Long An players have become familiar to fans nationwide, the most typical factors are summoned to perform duties in the national team every year, including being sent to fight abroad.

It is no coincidence that when reviewing the list of outstanding players of VTV Binh Dien Long An, such as Tran Thi Thanh Thuy, Vo Thi Kim Thoa, Nguyen Khanh Dang, General Secretary of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation Le Tri Truong commented: "A comprehensive team must have stability from investment, quality of players and performance. We highly appreciate the investment of VTV Binh Dien Long An and some other units and this helps build a good image for Vietnamese volleyball".

There are many obstacles

For two consecutive years, there were representatives in the top 2 of the continent and qualified to participate in the world arena (FIVB Challenger Cup, FIVB Women's Club World Championship), however, both Sport Center 1 and LPBank Ninh Binh were not successful in reaching the big sea. Up to now, the best achievement of Vietnamese women's volleyball is the bronze medal of FIVB Challenger Cup 2024 and partly the achievement of reaching the semi-finals of ASIAD 19, both belonging to the national team.

LPBank Ninh Binh was empty-handed in its first appearance at the FIVB Women's Club World Championship 2024 when its opponents had superior skills, not to mention advantages in height and physical strength. No one can be sure that VTV Binh Dien Long An will do better at the world tournament at the end of this year, unless this team makes huge changes in both personnel and tactics to be ready to compete fairly with the "big sisters".

Looking back at the first stage of the 2025 National Championship and then the Hung Vuong Cup arena with billion-dollar foreign players, it is not difficult to realize that Vietnamese women's volleyball has begun to receive attention and investment to completely change its appearance instead of just worrying about relegation.

Having been given the green light, the sight of 2 or even 3 foreign players appearing on the field at the same time is no longer strange to volleyball fans. The number of foreign players depends on the needs and financial capabilities, but as long as the personnel is in sync with the long-term, fundamental development plan of each team.

The Vietnam Volleyball Federation once expected each team to have its own training ground, gymnasium, and comprehensive infrastructure, including a youth training system. Not many women's and men's volleyball teams in Vietnam have met these criteria, mainly due to financial resources.

"In 2023, the Sports Center 1 team, with the national team as its members, made a miracle when they unexpectedly won the AVC Women's Club Championship. LPBank Ninh Binh (2024) and VTV Binh Dien Long An (2025) were satisfied with the continental runner-up title.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/bong-chuyen-nu-viet-nam-mo-ra-bien-lon-19625050319374859.htm