Shocking: World Volleyball Federation rules U.21 Vietnam as loser, Indonesia takes place in round of 16

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has just issued an official statement regarding the case of the ineligible athletes of the Vietnam U.21 women's team competing at the 2025 U.21 Women's Volleyball World Cup taking place in Indonesia.

Vietnam U.21 women's volleyball team was awarded a loss, why?

Late on August 12, the FIVB homepage said that after receiving feedback that the Vietnam Volleyball Federation had registered and used an ineligible athlete to compete in the 2025 Women's U.21 Volleyball World Cup, the agency conducted an investigation in accordance with regulations. The investigation results determined that the aforementioned athlete did not meet the competition conditions specified in Article 12.2 of the FIVB Disciplinary Regulations 2023.

"Therefore, based on Article 13.5.2 of the tournament regulations and Article 14.4 of the disciplinary regulations, the FIVB Disciplinary Subcommittee has decided that the matches of the Vietnamese team with the participation of this athlete will be considered a loss and the athlete will be disqualified from the tournament, effective immediately," FIVB affirmed on its homepage.

FIVB officially announced that U.21 Vietnam has athletes who are not eligible to compete.

PHOTO: CMH

The FIVB said the case will be forwarded to the FIVB Disciplinary Committee to consider the possibility of applying additional disciplinary measures beyond the scope of the tournament. In the next step, the Vietnam Volleyball Federation and the relevant athletes will be invited to submit their comments in writing.

FIVB has confirmed that it will not make any further comments while the process is still ongoing. This decision means that the performance of the Vietnam U.21 women's volleyball team at the 2025 U.21 Women's World Cup will be severely affected.

U.21 Vietnam ranked last in the group, while host U.21 Indonesia entered the round of 16.

Immediately after the announcement from FIVB, Thanh Nien reporters contacted Mr. Dao Duc Chung - Head of the Volleyball Department of the Department of Sports and Physical Training, and Head of the Vietnam U.21 team participating in the 2025 U.21 World Cup, but there was no response. The Vietnam Volleyball Federation has also not made any move regarding FIVB's decision.

According to the latest rankings announced by FIVB, the U.21 Vietnam women's volleyball team is at the bottom of Group A. Coach Nguyen Trong Linh and his team were only recognized for one win over U.21 Puerto Rico in the final round (taking place on the afternoon of August 12), because no violating athletes participated. The remaining 4 matches that the U.21 Vietnam team played before were all lost 0-3. Of the 4 matches that were lost, 3 were won by U.21 Vietnam, including wins over Canada, Serbia and Indonesia. The only loss of U.21 Vietnam in the group stage was against Argentina.

Initially, U.21 Vietnam ranked 2nd in Group A with 4 wins and 1 loss. After the FIVB's decision, U.21 Vietnam had 1 win, 4 losses and ranked last in Group A.

PHOTO: CMH

Thus, the Vietnam team with the bottom position in Group A will meet the U.21 Egypt team (5th in Group C) in the qualifying round from 17 to 24, taking place on August 13. In another development, with the U.21 Vietnam result being canceled, the host U.21 Indonesia has won a ticket to the round of 16 instead of having to compete for the 17 to 24 places.

This is a big shock for the Vietnam U.21 women's volleyball team in their first participation in the U.21 World Cup.

FIVB's new match schedule. In which, U.21 Vietnam must compete in the ranking (17th - 24th) with Egypt, while host U.21 Indonesia will participate in the round of 16.

PHOTO: CMH

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/soc-lien-doan-bong-chuyen-the-gioi-xu-thua-u21-viet-nam-vi-pham-luat-indonesia-tram-cho-vao-vong-16-185250813001621754.htm