A year of Vietnamese sports ended with the sad result of the men's football team at the AFF Cup 2020. In addition to coach Park Hang-seo and his team stopping in the semi-finals, Vietnamese sports also witnessed a failure at the Tokyo Olympics when they did not win medals as set out, or the cancellation of domestic football tournaments due to COVID-19...
But failure is also a reason for stakeholders to have the opportunity to look back, learn from experience and look forward to 2022 with highly anticipated events.
31 SEA Games
For Vietnamese sports in 2022, the most notable is the 31st SEA Games taking place at home. This will be a special event, not only because after 19 years, Vietnam has just hosted a sports festival in Southeast Asia. That is the fan waiting for the promises of the ASEAN Sports Ministers in the joint statement on prioritizing the Olympics and ASIAD, aiming at developing sports in the region instead of the story of "distributing medals" as usual seen before.
The 31st SEA Games, with 40 competitions, taking place in May, will also be the answer to the mindset of focusing on achievements that is eliminated for Vietnamese sports in particular and the region in general.
The 9th National Sports Festival
After 4 years, the biggest sports festival for domestic athletes will return in November. Quang Ninh is the host, with the plan to include 40 sports, including Olympic, ASIAD, SEA Games and national and entertainment sports in the competition program.
With the development of the COVID-19 epidemic, localities face many difficulties in organizing Congresses. Through sports events at all levels, localities will select athletes to attend the National Congress and must complete before October. Taking place at the end of the year, the 9th National Sports Festival is the time to re-evaluate the performance of athletes after 1 year of training and competition.
ASIAD 2022 in China
Another event on a 4-year cycle at the Asian level. Like the Olympics, the ASIAD requires Vietnamese sports to have long-term investment from the industry and the efforts of athletes. In 2018, Vietnamese sports won 4 gold medals, 16 silver medals and 18 bronze medals. Will industry leaders set similar targets after Vietnamese sports failed at the recent Olympics in Japan? ASIAD 2022 took place in September, in Hangzhou.
Events of Vietnamese football
In addition to general sporting events, football is still a big concern and will start in January. The men's football team will continue its journey to the third qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup until March, while the women's team will participate in the 2022 Asian Cup from late January to early February.
By May, the U22 men's team will aim to win medals at the SEA Games, while the women's team will be tasked with defending the title.
After the SEA Games, in early June, the U23 men's team will participate in the U23 Asian Cup Finals in Uzbekistan. This is a tournament where 3 years ago, coach Park Hang-seo and his team made a big splash with the runner-up position.
Finally, the national team will have the opportunity to do it again at the AFF Cup 2022. Currently, the Southeast Asian Football Federation has not yet finalized a time but will likely continue to organize before or after the 2022 World Cup takes place.
For domestic football, the V-League and its divisions will start the 2022 season in mid-February and are expected to end in early September.
