Achievements and investment are not uniform
At the 8th National Athletics Federation Congress (term 2025-2029) took place on the morning of April 25 in Hanoi, the 7th Executive Committee summarized looking back on the sides, not yet. In particular, the achievement for the SEA Games and ASIAD arena of Vietnamese athletics in the last term was recorded to meet medal criteria.
Despite the interruption of international competition and training activities, the national athletics team still maintains the effectiveness of centralized training, thereby continuing to affirm its position in Southeast Asia with the best achievement of the entire athletics delegation at the 30th SEA Games (2019) and 31st SEA Games (2022).
At the 32nd SEA Games (2023), despite only being second, Vietnam's athletics still contributed significantly to helping the Vietnamese sports delegation maintain their top position in the region.
However, the achievements and investment of Vietnam's athletics are not uniform. Only female athletes are bright spots, clearly dominating short, medium and obstacle running events. The number of high-level athletes is still thin, and there is no plan to invest in other events such as push-ups and saos. Currently, Vietnam's athletics is only strong in women's running events.
In addition, the equipment is old and outdated, not meeting the training requirements to improve the performance of athletes. In addition, the implementation of the application of science, technology and sports medicine in selection and training is still very preliminary. These are weaknesses that need to be overcome in the new term.
Speaking at the Congress, Mr. Nguyen Hong Minh - Deputy Director of the Department of Physical Education and Sports of Vietnam - assessed: "The coordination to build a force of high-performance athletes is still not good, especially the number of qualified athletes who are capable of reaching the level of the continent and the world is still small".
Challenges in the new term
Entering the 2025-2029 term, the Vietnam Athletics Federation continues to focus on the task of developing the national athletics movement and improving achievements in high-performance competition.
Key goals are identified as achieving results at the 33rd, 34:30th, and ASIADs of the 20th and 21st editions and seeking opportunities to participate in the 2028 Olympics. To realize this, the Federation has set a series of solutions such as innovating training models, strengthening international cooperation, promoting the application of science - technology and sports medicine in training, building a national sports data system.
The good news is that Vietnam's athletics has a source of income. General Secretary of the Vietnam Athletics Federation, Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung said: "Vietnam Athletics has gradually affirmed its brand and has partners to find to link up to sign contracts.
We have received revenue from many activities from membership fees, road measurement fees, sponsorship fees, State support during careers fees, organizing domestic sports events, advertising fees... Currently, the Vietnam Athletics Federation can sell sponsorship on some of its products".
According to the Federation's financial report, the main source of revenue comes from membership fees, marathon management fees, sponsorship and support from domestic and foreign organizations. A part of the budget also comes from the annual subsidy of the World Athletics Federation, ranging from about 13,000 to more than 20,000 USD per year.
At the end of the 2019-2024 term, the balance of revenue transferred to 2025 is more than 3.4 billion VND. Currently, the separate sponsor of the Vietnam Athletics Team sponsors up to about 10 billion VND (including cash and products).
However, many potential revenue channels have not been exploited such as leasing assets, image copyright, selling television rights for athletics tournaments. Selling television rights for athletics tournaments in Vietnam is not feasible.
The funding mobilization work is mainly seasonal, based on the prestige of the incumbent leaders without a specialized department or long-term strategy.
In general, Vietnam's athletics in the 2025-2029 term is facing many challenges, especially the problem of funding and human resources.
