Based on regulations of Asian and World volleyball
The announcement of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation sent to the managing units of men's and women's volleyball teams nationwide said that from 2026, the testing and gender verification of volleyball players participating in the women's event of the national league system will be implemented.
The Vietnam Volleyball Federation is based on the Regulations and guidelines for testing the gender of athletes of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) and the World Volleyball Federation (FIVB) to make decisions.
In September last year, the Vietnam Volleyball Federation issued an official announcement after meeting with the Executive Committee and professional departments regarding the termination of 1 player of the Vietnam U21 women's volleyball team from the 2025 U21 World Championship in Indonesia.
The Vietnam Volleyball Federation affirms: "The official tournaments of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation and the participating clubs and athletes are all registered in the system of the World Volleyball Federation - FIVB. Therefore, athletes who do not meet the conditions determined by FIVB will not be allowed to compete in tournaments in the official competition system of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation until another decision is made.
The determination of gender disability for athletes to participate in tournaments in Vietnam's official competition system will be implemented according to the specific instructions of FIVB, functional units and conditions to ensure accuracy for this determination, which will be implemented starting from 2026”.
In fact, at the present time, many women's volleyball tournaments organized by FIVB and the Asian Volleyball Federation have not proposed content to check and verify the gender of players in the Charter. Last year, the SEA Games 33 volleyball event had a content announcing that it was possible to conduct a check to verify the status of players participating in the women's event if there were feedback.
To prevent arguments from happening
Currently, Vietnamese volleyball has not recorded any players participating in the women's event having to undergo gender checks when participating in national tournaments.
Some volleyball experts once said that the Vietnam Volleyball Federation's regulations on checking and verifying the gender of volleyball players participating in the women's event in the national tournament system from 2026 need to consider many professional and specific factors regarding... gender.
When the tournament organizers find it necessary and appropriate to determine the gender of the athlete, they will ask for the approval of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation (VFV). After receiving the VFV's approval, the head of the supervisory board will immediately notify the head of the athlete's delegation and notify the tournament organizers of the requirement to perform a standard level genetic test using the PCR gene SRY method to verify gender...", one of the specific contents stated in the Notice of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation dated March 10.
In addition to tournaments belonging to the youth system, National League A, Vietnamese volleyball fans are very interested in registering players for the National Championship. From 2025, the National Championship will have 8 women's teams participating. According to regulations, each team can register a maximum of 14 players in the official squad. "Surely, the teams participating in the tournament organized by the Vietnam Volleyball Federation all want professional fairness. The most necessary thing is that if there are standards and regulations on the qualifications of athletes when registered and officially issued, controversy will not occur," a representative of a women's volleyball team (who asked to remain anonymous) expressed.
Vietnamese volleyball is gradually moving towards professionalizing national system tournaments. However, only when entering the reality of the tournament, feedback or suggestions will be put into practice. At that time, the Vietnam Volleyball Federation will have to further complete the regulations on checking and verifying the gender of players in accordance with the promulgated regulations.
