Hard
In 2024, Vietnamese volleyball fans witnessed for the first time a foreign player (foreign soldier) appearing in the final round of the 2024 National A-Class Volleyball Tournament. The three teams that hired foreign players to participate in the final round this time were Kinh Bac Bac Ninh women's team (one player), Ho Chi Minh City women's team (two players), and Ho Chi Minh City Police men's team (two players).
Along with that, most of the teams participating in the 2024 National Volleyball Championship also hired foreign players. The women's event of the tournament will hold its second phase on November 7 in Lao Cai, with 9 teams actively looking to hire foreign players.
“In theory, adding foreign players is to increase professional quality. But in reality, every team has to ensure their position, so each coaching staff faces significant pressure and foreign players are hired to solve the problem of performance,” said a representative of the professional supervision board of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation.
Last year, Kinh Bac Bac Ninh women's team and Ho Chi Minh City women's team lost completely and were relegated. Therefore, this year, the two teams have the goal of being promoted to the National Volleyball Championship again, so they are forced to hire foreign players to ensure that goal. The Vietnam Volleyball Federation only gives one promotion spot to the champion of the 2024 National A Volleyball Championship, so no team wants to miss the opportunity.
Meanwhile, 10 quality foreign players have joined the women's teams preparing to participate in the second phase of the 2024 National Volleyball Championship. In the first phase of the tournament, the Geleximco Thai Binh women's team did not hire foreign players, so they lost four matches and were in the bottom group.
Head coach Tran Van Giap of the team is under a lot of pressure to help the team stay in the league, so entering the second phase, the team immediately hired foreign players to improve their skills. Mr. Giap once expressed that the difficulties for him were great, but for now, the team will try their best. Another pressure is seen by fans in the Ha Tinh men's team.
The team's manager decided to change the head coach, appointing Mr. Tran Dang Thanh to the "hot seat" after the first phase of the 2024 National Volleyball Championship. This is the only team to change the head coach up to now.
Finding promotion or staying in the league is not easy.
The 2024 National A-Class Volleyball Championship Finals only have two promotion spots (one men's team, one women's team). The two promotion spots are determined to be Ho Chi Minh City (women's) and Ho Chi Minh City Police (men's).
The 2024 National Volleyball Championship will have four relegation spots (two men's teams, two women's teams). The ultimate goal of all teams in the National Volleyball Championship is to stay in the league. This year, the tournament will be played in a round-robin format (men's and women's), so any team can fall into the danger zone and miss out on relegation.
Calculating how to achieve the best results is what the 18 head coaches of the 18 teams (9 men's teams, 9 women's teams) of the 2024 National Volleyball Championship are preparing for in order to be ready to compete in the upcoming second phase.
Head coach Nguyen Tuan Kiet of Vietinbank team once analyzed that the results of the second stage of the competition have the final decisive meaning. Therefore, it is understandable that many teams concentrate their best forces, maintain high determination to win a ticket to stay in the league or advance to the opportunity to enter the semi-finals.
Professionals are focusing on preparing their teams as best as possible. However, it is not impossible that the teams in the upper group, once they have secured points to qualify for the semi-finals, may play more freely against teams that need points to stay in the league.
General Secretary of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation - Mr. Le Tri Truong discussed that from 2025, the National Volleyball Championship will be reduced to 16 teams (8 men's teams, 8 women's teams) and follow the professional roadmap to ensure the best quality for the tournament.
However, coaches of domestic volleyball teams have expressed the opinion that organizing a tournament in a professional format and system creates attraction and high expertise, not simply reducing the number of participating teams.
