Thai volleyball fans criticize SEA V.League, want the team to withdraw from the 'village pond'

A huge debate broke out on Thai volleyball fan forums, as thousands of fans wanted the country's women's volleyball team to withdraw from the SEA V.League.

Thailand (right) in the dramatic victory over Vietnam in SEA V.League 2025 - Photo: VAT

"Why do we have to join this tournament? It's just a tournament recently opened to increase competition for weaker volleyball teams than Thailand in Southeast Asia. We don't gain any benefits or experience from this tournament," quoted an article from Thailand's Star Volleyball volleyball forum.

The post received a total of more than 13,000 likes, with thousands of supportive comments.

Another fan said: "This is a tournament that Thai women's volleyball cannot lose, participating in such a tournament has no benefit at all."

To be fair, these opinions may sound a bit "arrogant" at first, but they are not without reason.

The SEA V.League was first launched in 2019, when it was only for women's volleyball. With a model of playing 2 rounds per year, organized annually (but interrupted in 2020-2021 due to the pandemic), Thailand won all 8 rounds of the tournament held.

In 2023, SEA V.League launched a men's version, and Thailand has so far won 3/6 stages.

Thai fans mainly mentioned the withdrawal from women's volleyball - a competition in which Thailand has reached the top level of the continent, approaching world level.

Vietnam is currently the only opponent that can challenge Thailand in Southeast Asia. In the first leg of this year's tournament, Thailand won dramatically 3-2 in a comeback.

However, the Thai women's volleyball team did not have the strongest force in stage 1, when some key players were injured in the 2025 VNL Tournament.

The easy championship made Thai fans feel that SEA V.League did not bring any benefits to their team, except for negative controversies. A typical example was the war of words between fans of the two teams Vietnam and Thailand after the first leg revolving around controversial referee decisions.

"Thai women's volleyball did not gain any benefits from this tournament, no lessons, no experience, no bonus points. Even if they quit this tournament, the position of Thai women's volleyball in the world would remain the same," commented Pantip newspaper.

According to most fans, the fact that SEA V.League 2025 takes place right after VNL and before the World Championship causes difficulties for Thai female volleyball players.

Of course, so far these opinions are only within the Thai women's volleyball fan community. Perhaps this opinion will be considered by the Thai Volleyball Federation in the future.

HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/co-dong-vien-bong-chuyen-thai-lan-che-sea-v-league-muon-doi-rut-khoi-ao-lang-20250807180229003.htm