OFFICIAL: Vietnam Volleyball loses its spot at the 2026 Asian Championship

Unfortunate news hits Vietnamese volleyball at the start of 2026.

The Vietnam men's volleyball team will not participate in the 2026 Asian Volleyball Championship - AVC Cup held in India this June.

Recently, the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) announced the list of 12 men's and 12 women's volleyball teams qualified for the AVC Cup 2026 on their official website. Unfortunately, the Vietnamese men's team is absent due to not meeting the qualification criteria.

Accordingly, Southeast Asia has 2 slots based on the results of the SEA V.League. However, in 2025, Nguyen Ngoc Thuan and his teammates only finished in 3rd place, thus failing to secure a ticket to this year's AVC Cup.

The two ASEAN representatives at this event are Indonesia and Thailand – currently the strongest teams in the region.

Last year, the Vietnamese men's volleyball team participated in the AVC Nations Cup (the former name of the AVC Cup) and made a notable impression. We reached the quarterfinals after the group stage with 1 win (against Australia) and 1 loss (against South Korea), fought bravely against the defending champions Qatar but ultimately lost after 5 sets. Coach Tran Dinh Tien's team lost both subsequent classification matches and finished 8th overall.

Without a spot in the AVC Cup, Vietnam's men's volleyball team will only compete in two international tournaments in 2026: the SEA V.League and the AVC Champions League (as a club replacing Bien Phong). The chances for Ngoc Thuan and his teammates to participate in ASIAD 20 are slim.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team will continue to compete in familiar tournamentssuch as the AVC Cup, SEA V.League, ASIAD, and the Asian Championship, with ASIAD 20 in Japan being the main focus.