On March 10, the Vietnam Volleyball Federation issued a notice on the inspection and verification of the gender of players participating in the women's event at the national system tournament.
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 the above decision.
The testing and gender verification of volleyball players participating in the women's event will begin this year. Meaning, the 2026 National Club Championship will be the first official tournament to apply this regulation.
From 2026, the Vietnam Volleyball Federation will determine the status of athletes by chromosomal testing to determine gender for female athletes in all volleyball tournaments in the national competition system (if necessary and appropriate)", excerpt from the announcement of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation.
The content states: "When the tournament organizing committee finds it necessary and appropriate to determine the gender of the athlete, it will seek approval from the Vietnam Volleyball Federation (VFV).
If there is a proposal for inspection from the heads of delegations of the participating teams, with the consent of the organizing committee and the approval of VFV, the proposing team must pay a deposit of 10,000,000 VND (ten million VND) to the organizing committee. This deposit will be refunded if the test results prove that the athlete is not genetically female.
After VFV's approval, the head of the supervisory board will immediately notify the head of the athlete's delegation and notify the organizing committee of the tournament about the requirement to perform a standard level genetic testing using the PCR gene SRY method to verify gender.
The test will be performed at a designated and approved standard medical facility or organization near the competition venue, or a third-party location that ensures privacy. All test samples and related documents will then be kept by VFV for records management and information security.
The club and the player must fully cooperate with the testing process. Until the test results are available, the player is still allowed to play as a member of the team.
The cost of basic sex chromosomal testing will be borne by VFV. The local organizing committee will be responsible for picking up and dropping off athletes and team representatives to the test site or bringing investigating experts to meet athletes at the designated room, safely, transparently and privately".
The notice also stated: "The time to return the test results will be according to the laboratory's procedure. If the chromosome test proves that the player does not have a Y chromosome, the matter will be terminated.
If the tested player proves to have Y chromosomes, the results will be sent to the supervisor and VFV. The supervisor will notify the results to the athlete, club and decide on the team's competition.
This is the first time VFV has issued Regulations on checking and verifying the gender of athletes participating in the women's event in the national competition system.
On September 11, 2025, the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation worked to discuss the issue of verifying and checking the gender and playing status of players after hitter Dang Thi Hong was not allowed to play by the Organizing Committee of the 2025 U21 World Volleyball Championship because she was determined to be not qualified as a player according to regulations.
