After football, volleyball is one of the most popular sports in Vietnam. With the most even squad of players ever, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team promises to be able to create dreamlike miracles for Vietnamese sports. The upcoming FIVB Challenge Cup 2023 will bring a great opportunity for Vietnamese volleyball to demonstrate its ability and make its mark on the international arena.

Scheduled to take place in the city of Laval, France, the tournament will start from July 27 to 30. The FIVB Challenge Cup is a prestigious tournament organized by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB). This tournament took place for the first time in 2018, when FIVB reformed the tournament system. To date, the FIVB Challenger Cup for women's volleyball teams has been held 3 times in 2018, 2019 and 2022. The tournament was interrupted for 2 years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The women's volleyball teams of Bulgaria, Canada and Croatia are the teams that have won the championship.

The winner of the FIVB Challenge Cup will be promoted to compete in the Volleyball Nations League - the highest level tournament, equivalent to the world championship of volleyball in the following season.

Vietnam Women's Volleyball Team. Photo: AVC

For Vietnam, a country with a developing volleyball industry, the FIVB Challenge Cup 2023 is of great significance. This is an opportunity for the Vietnamese Women's Volleyball team to demonstrate their skills against strong teams from Europe, Latin America, etc.

Vietnam is the 4th team in the Asia- Pacific region to participate in the FIVB Challenge Cup 2023. 2018: Australia; 2019: Chinese Taipei; 2022: Kazakhstan.

The FIVB Challenge Cup will feature eight teams representing each continent. The seven teams that have already been confirmed for the tournament are host France (ranked 21st in the world), Puerto Rico (ranked 16th in the world), Colombia (ranked 19th in the world), Kenya (ranked 30th in the world), Vietnam (ranked 49th in the world), Sweden (ranked 28th in the world) and Ukraine (ranked 21st in the world). The remaining team will be the relegated team from the 2023 Volleyball Nations League (to be determined at the end of the group stage). These eight teams will be drawn in order of their world rankings to form four knockout pairs.

French Women's Volleyball Team. Photo: CEV

Vietnam's opponent in the first match is the French Women's Volleyball team. In this tournament, in 2022, the French team ranked 5th overall. The French women's volleyball team is known for its solid defense, strong net attacks with a rhythmic style of play, and will certainly be a formidable opponent for Vietnamese volleyball.

With the guidance of coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet and the best quality athletes we have, this will certainly be an opportunity for Vietnamese athletes to make strides in their careers, further improve their skills, expertise and contribute to the overall development of domestic volleyball.

VU DUC ANH