Vietnamese sports and the challenge of reaching the Olympic Top 50: When team sports are still... not yet prominent
The second phase of the national volleyball championship is underway in Ninh Binh. Most of the news focuses on the women's events, as the tall female players have shown outstanding results on the international stage. However, the situation for the men's events is quite different. The champion teams in the men's competition are less well known, with titles concentrated among only a few names.
Forty years ago, from 1986 to 1995, volleyball was naturally associated with the men's category. The situation has changed; men's volleyball is now quite quiet despite improvements in performance. From ranking only 4th or 5th in Southeast Asia, the men's national team has recently risen to the top 3 in the SEA Games, securing three runner-up titles, something not even achieved during their peak period.
The quietness of men's volleyball raises a significant question, not only for volleyball but also for other team sports. The national volleyball league currently has only 8 teams, a modest number compared to when Ho Chi Minh City alone had three strong teams, and the military forces had 2-3 teams. Over time, despite efforts to socialize the sport, the number of tournaments per year has doubled and the quality of competition has greatly improved, but the number of clubs has steadily decreased to a minimum.
Compared to football, the investment budget for team sports like volleyball and basketball is limited, even though these sports are quite popular in daily life and have a large number of followers. For example, after 10 years of development, the professional basketball league VBA still cannot exceed 8 clubs. In volleyball, private ownership rates for both men's and women's teams only reach about 10%.
Volleyball in Vietnam is developing unevenly, with women's categories receiving much more attention than men's. Photo: Hai Duong
If the challenges in team sports are not solved, it will be difficult to build a truly professional sports foundation. Clearly, the investment costs for sports with many athletes are higher than for individual sports, which is why promoting socialization along with specific marketing and communication activities is necessary. This is a difficult task, but if Vietnamese sports can solve this problem, developing individual sports will become easier.
One obvious observation in team sports is that the number of clubs does not match the population or localities. Many provinces and cities lack official volleyball or basketball clubs, showing a lack of diversity in sports activities, failing to attract investment, and not meeting the needs of basic, accessible sports in communities and schools. Without teams and grassroots movements, it is very hard to mobilize or attract socialization. Careful observation shows that strong clubs in team sports focus only on a few localities or sectors, and these represent a very small proportion.
Returning to the story of men's volleyball, from the era of famous teams like SEAProdex, The Cong, Military Region 4, and Hanoi Post Office four decades ago, football was already the number one sport in terms of attraction, but there was still fierce competition between the two sports with their own fan bases.
However, while football maintained its position by turning professional, men's volleyball declined in popularity, gradually overshadowed by women's volleyball. Could the reason lie in the role of the Federation, lacking changes to keep up with trends, thereby wasting the progress made in men's volleyball achievements?
It is not easy for any sport to develop evenly in both men’s and women’s achievements like volleyball. Not every sport has as lively a competition system as volleyball currently does. Yet, with the number of teams decreasing and too few quality investors, it is clear that volleyball is stagnating despite its own strengths.
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