On the evening of July 28, the 15th National Traditional Martial Arts Club Championship 2026 officially opened at Nguyen Tat Thanh Square (Quy Nhon Ward, Gia Lai Province), bringing together nearly 900 team leaders, coaches, athletes, and referees from 33 units, provinces, and cities, as well as international clubs.
Taking place from July 26 to August 5, the tournament is organised by the Sports Authority of Viet Nam, the Viet Nam Traditional Martial Arts Federation, and the Gia Lai Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
This is considered the largest and highest-quality tournament in the national traditional martial arts club system and also serves as an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of training, discover successors, and promote the development of the movement towards professionalism.
The most notable highlight of this year's tournament is the first-ever participation of traditional martial arts clubs from Morocco, the Russian Federation, and France in the official competition.
This is considered a significant milestone in the process of integrating Vietnamese traditional martial arts deeply into the world, while also opening opportunities for exchange, learning, and professional development between martial arts masters, coaches, and athletes from Viet Nam and international friends.
Beyond its professional significance, the tournament is also held concurrently with the 9th International Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts Festival — Gia Lai 2026.
This combination has created a space for exchange between high-performance sports and activities such as performances, group demonstrations, international belt promotion competitions, and cultural promotion, contributing to bringing Vietnamese traditional martial arts closer to international friends.
The organisers expect the tournament to continue acting as an important foundation for preserving and promoting the values of Vietnamese traditional martial arts and to serve as a basis for selecting athletes to prepare for the 10th Viet Nam National Games at the end of 2026, as well as the World Championships and Junior Championships of Vietnamese Traditional Martial Arts held in Italy.
