Vietnam Women's Volleyball: When Superior Achievements Still Lack the Spotlight

A Monday morning at the Training Center of Military Region 5 in Da Nang is quiet. No television cameras, no reporters waiting outside — just the sound of balls hitting the wooden floor and the grunts of young women practicing at 5:30 AM. The first person in the gym is Nguyen Thi Xuan — the leading spiker of Vietnam's women's volleyball team, who has scored 847 points across 24 international matches in the past two years. On professional courts, she is recognized as one of the finest outside hitters in Southeast Asia. Off the court, she is a name that most Vietnamese sports fans cannot immediately recall when asked on the street.

This is the paradox I have observed throughout fourteen years of covering women's volleyball — a sport whose national team continues to improve with each cycle, yet receives media attention and investment resources disproportionate to their achievements.

The Performance Picture Lacks Matching Visibility

Vietnam's women's volleyball team has achieved significant progress in recent years. At the 2026 Asian Women's Volleyball Championship, the team reached the quarterfinals for the first time in 12 years, defeating the strong Kazakh team 3-2 in a match lasting 2 hours and 18 minutes. Nguyen Thi Xuan scored 32 points in that match, including 7 direct attack points from smashes at the opponent's net. This marked Vietnam's best women's volleyball result at the continental arena since 2026.

A fair comparison: Vietnam's men's football team reached the Asian Cup quarterfinals in 2026 and immediately received a 340% increase in sponsorship from businesses the following year. The women's volleyball team reached the quarterfinals at the 2026 Asian Championships and sponsorship increased by only 12% — according to data I collected from the Vietnam Volleyball Federation's financial reports. I am not comparing to create division, but the numbers 12% and 340% appear on the same statistical sheet, and they are saying something we need to hear.

Returning to that morning practice in Da Nang. After completing warm-ups, Nguyen Thi Xuan was called by coach Tran Thi Minh Huong — a former national team player who competed in Japan's professional league — to practice single-point attack drills. This exercise was repeated approximately 47 times during the 90-minute session. Throughout that time, I counted three observers: one technical staff member from the center, one local freelance reporter, and myself.

The Gap Between Performance and Recognition

The way media and markets value women's sports is something I have spent years studying. I am not saying men's football does not deserve its popularity — it does. I am simply pointing out a systemic imbalance that data is gradually revealing.

In 2026, total news articles about women's sports in Vietnam's three largest sports newspapers accounted for 7.3% of all sports coverage. Women's volleyball specifically accounted for 1.8%. During the same year, the women's volleyball national team participated in 8 international tournaments, winning 3 gold medals at the SEA Games and Asian Games levels. Their success rate per tournament exceeds that of many men's teams in other sports, yet no one measures it that way.

A small detail I always carry in my notebook: at the 2026 SEA Games in Cambodia, when Vietnam's women's volleyball team won gold, the post-match press conference had 4 reporters. One week later, when Vietnam's men's futsal team played a friendly match in Hanoi, the press room was packed with 23 media representatives. This was not an official tournament match, just a friendly. I do not blame the reporters — they followed their editorial assignments. But who is making those assignments, and based on what criteria?

The System Operates on Old Logic

When I started my career in 2026, the structure of Vietnamese sports media had already been clearly shaped: men's football dominated absolutely, with other sports sharing the remainder. This model reflected audience preferences and commercialization potential at that time. But preferences are not immutable — they are shaped and reshaped by the content that the media system provides.

Consider a hypothetical survey: if Vietnamese television dedicated 30 minutes of weekly broadcast time to women's volleyball for two consecutive years, would audience preferences change? Based on my experience following other markets, my answer is yes. South Korea demonstrated this by systematically investing in women's volleyball from 2026 onward, and now their V-League women's division draws higher average attendance than their men's league in several cities.

In Vietnam, there are encouraging signs. The VTV Cup women's volleyball tournament — though still modest compared to major events — attracted an average of 2,800 spectators per match in the 2026 season, a 23% increase from 2026. These are not impressive numbers compared to football, but steady growth trends go unnoticed because they lack a superstar or notable scandal to accompany them.

Survival Strategies of Those Without Enough Spotlight

Rather than waiting for top-down change, many women's volleyball athletes and coaches have created their own paths to reach audiences. Tran Thi Minh Huong, the national team coach, began livestreaming training sessions on her personal YouTube channel from 2026. Each video attracted an average of 15,000 views — small compared to entertainment channels, but notable because the return viewer rate reached 34%, indicating a small but loyal community forming.

Nguyen Thi Xuan also maintains a TikTok account with over 180,000 followers. Content primarily consists of short videos demonstrating attacking techniques, behind-the-scenes moments, and sharing about the training process. This is not a professional media strategy, but it shows a generation of athletes understanding that if no one opens doors for them, they must build their own.

One detail I always remember: in an interview after the 2026 SEA Games final, when asked about her dreams, Nguyen Thi Xuan did not mention medals or professional contracts abroad. She said: "I want one day, the young girls in my hometown can watch my matches on television, instead of waiting for someone to tell them about it." That quote did not appear on any major news broadcast that evening.

Commercial Value or Athletic Value: An Endless Debate

A common argument in women's sports discussions is the issue of commercial viability. Media managers often justify minimal investment in women's sports by claiming "the market is not ready." But this argument has a logical flaw I want to point out.

Vietnam's sports market as a whole has only developed over approximately the past 15 years. Men's football also once occupied a phase where matches attracted only a few hundred spectators and sponsors were reluctant. The development of men's football did not come from audiences automatically appearing, but from an ecosystem including television, advertising, and deliberately constructed player narratives.

For women's volleyball, that ecosystem barely exists. Not because there is no potential, but because no one has invested enough time and resources to build it. This is a strategic blind spot I often observe: we evaluate the commercial viability of women's sports based on their current state while overlooking the investment process that has never been undertaken.

I am not naively optimistic. I understand that Vietnamese women's volleyball faces real constraints in infrastructure, coaching quality, and professional competition systems. But I also see that these constraints are partly reinforced by a vicious cycle: no investment, no development, no outstanding achievements, no attention, and back to step one.

Beneath the Surface of Forgotten Numbers

A small study I conducted in 2026 may provide a different perspective. I monitored 50 matches of Vietnam's women's volleyball team over two years, recording technical statistics and organizational conditions. Some notable findings: on average, Vietnam's women's team achieved a 41.2% successful attack rate — higher than the Southeast Asian regional average of 38.7%. Their winning block rate per set was 2.8, exceeding Thailand (2.4) and Indonesia (2.1) in direct head-to-head matches during the same year.

Regarding competition conditions, only 23% of the women's team's matches were held at venues with capacities exceeding 2,000 seats. Meanwhile, 78% of comparable-level men's football national team friendly matches were organized at large stadiums, even though many of those matches attracted only a few hundred actual spectators.

These numbers are not meant to conclude that women's volleyball is "better" or "more important" than any other sport. They simply show that when we talk about Vietnamese sports, an important part of the picture remains hidden from public view.

What Happens Next?

Returning to the gym in Da Nang. Practice ends at 7 AM. Nguyen Thi Xuan and her teammates equipment, laughing about a play from earlier drills. She opens her phone, reading a message from a young fan in Quang Ngai — the child had watched her TikTok video and wanted to become a volleyball player. Xuan replies: "Keep practicing hard, someday I'll compete against you."

That is the moment I will always remember. An athlete with international achievements messaging a young fan for encouragement, instead of giving an interview to a national television station as she deserved.

Vietnamese women's sports do not need to be rescued. They need to be seen. And that visibility does not come from any single decision — it comes from a series of small choices by the media system, by sponsors, by sports administrators, and by audiences. Each time an editor decides to cover women's volleyball at a level proportionate to their achievements, each time a business sees potential value rather than just current statistics, each time an audience member chooses to watch a women's volleyball match instead of scrolling past — those are the bricks that build change.

I do not know whether in three years or five years, the morning practice in Da Nang will have more cameras or not. But I know that Nguyen Thi Xuan will still be there at 5:30 AM, with or without someone counting her.