On May 14, the Vietnam Department of Physical Education and Sports and VTC Mobile Company - VTC Multimedia Corporation held a signing ceremony for a strategic agreement on national esport development and announced The Grand Esports 2026 program. The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho An Phong.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Danh Hoang Viet - Director of the Vietnam Department of Physical Education and Sports said: "Today, we officially establish a strategic cooperation relationship between the Vietnam Department of Physical Education and Sports and VTC Corporation - a state-owned enterprise under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. This is a drastic step to realize three key goals: Developing Esports in the cultural industry flow; Promoting the Sports Economy; Creating a regular ecosystem.
The combination of the State management role of the Department and the media capacity, game operation, e-sports and technology of VTC and related parties will build official and transparent competition standards with the standards of major events such as SEA Games and ASIAD to standardize the competition process to approach the SEA Games and ASIAD standards”.
At the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ho An Phong said that Vietnam has many advantages to develop esports in the future.
In the Strategy for developing Vietnam's cultural industries to 2030, vision to 2045, the game sector and especially e-sports are identified as one of the important industries of the cultural industry.
Not only creating value in culture, entertainment or sports, e-sport also makes a positive contribution to the economy with very rapid growth in Vietnam," the Deputy Minister affirmed.
Within the framework of the signing ceremony, the organizers also announced the series of events and international tournaments The Grand Esports 2026 - marking the first time the program has been co-organized by the Vietnam Sports Administration, VTC Corporation and Vietnam Electronic Sports and Entertainment Association (VIRESA).
Towards the goal of becoming an annual tournament of national and international stature, the event has also been officially honored at the National level by the Vietnam Sports Administration and VIRESA.
The Grand Esports 2026 includes a series of large-scale activities such as the Vietnam National Esports Cup 2026 (Vietnam Esports National Cup - VENC), the International Esports Grand Championship 2026 (EGC 2026), the Grand Esports Festival 2026 and the Grand Esports Awards 2026.
According to the plan, online rounds will start from June 2026. The live final round combined with the Grand Esports Festival is expected to take place from July 9-12, 2026 at the Hanoi Indoor Athletics Palace.
Closing the series of activities will be the honoring night of The Grand Esports Awards 2026 to honor individuals, teams and units with outstanding contributions to Vietnamese e-sports, expected to be held in November or December 2026.
