Last of 18 teams
There have been three milestones that the organizers of the National Volleyball Championship have left for professionals, managers and fans to pay attention to in the past 20 seasons. Firstly, the 2004 season was the first time that the previous national volleyball tournament for strong teams changed its name to the National Volleyball Championship.
Until 2024, after 20 years of organization, the highest playground of Vietnamese volleyball still retains the same name. The second milestone was in the 2018 season. Previously, the National Volleyball Championship organized competitions for 12 men's teams and 12 women's teams, but since 2018, the number of teams has been reduced to 10 men's teams and 10 women's teams.
Through the following years of organization, by the 2024 season, the number of teams will be 9 men's teams and 9 women's teams (total: 18 teams). The third milestone marks the 2024 National Volleyball Championship as the last time this highest level of competition will have 18 teams. From 2025, the Volleyball Federation stipulates that 8 men's teams and 8 women's teams (total: 16 teams) will be allowed to participate.
After the decision was made that by 2025, the criteria for improving expertise must be met, while the number of participating teams must be reduced to create an attractive competition, and the implementation took place. Therefore, the Border Guard men's and VTV Binh Dien Long An women's teams won the tournament this year, so they were the last two teams to be honored according to the old organization of the National Volleyball Championship.
General Secretary of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation - Mr. Le Tri Truong - said that currently, professional departments are developing a plan to organize the National Volleyball Championship in a new format from 2025.
Expect new ways of doing things
The 2024 season is even more memorable for experts because for the first time, the competition system is organized for 9 men's teams and 9 women's teams to play in the group stage with a round-robin format. This model is taking place similarly in many professional volleyball regions in Asia and Europe. The teams compete against each other (at least one match) instead of the organizers drawing lots for groups in each stage according to the old format, so there are still cases where some teams do not meet each other throughout the season.
The fact that the Vietnam Volleyball Federation implemented the round-robin format of the group stage also created some surprises in terms of rankings. Some surprises include the Binh Phuoc School Tuoi Information Corps women's team falling out of the semi-finals, and the Ha Tinh men's team being relegated...
From 2025, the number of foreign players on the field may be two. At this time, there is no official opinion or confirmation from the Vietnam Volleyball Federation on the above issue. 2024 is the third consecutive year that the Vietnam Volleyball Federation allows teams to register foreign players (this permission will be implemented again from 2022).
In theory, the hiring of foreign players is done by the teams themselves. The Organizing Committee of the National Volleyball Championship and the Vietnam Volleyball Federation do not participate in the transfers but only set out regulations in the competition rules to best suit the tournament's expertise, ensuring the best interests of the players on the field to compete. Therefore, all is speculation.
Through research by Lao Dong Newspaper, allowing two foreign players to play at the same time at the National Volleyball Championship is difficult to implement and certainly the Vietnam Volleyball Federation will not do it at the present stage.
In 2025, a new competition format is expected to be applied, so 16 teams are waiting for the manager to issue specific regulations to prepare.
