Sports

With a total of 38.020 points, Viet Nam has secured 15th place in the latest Men’s Club Competitions Ranking 2025/26, announced by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on May 19.

With just over four months remaining until the opening of the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, Viet Nam’s national teams are pushing hard to meet their target of winning at least five gold medals.

Vietnamese chess grandmaster Le Quang Liem has become the first player from Viet Nam to qualify for the Esports World Cup after an impressive performance at the DreamHack Atlanta qualifiers in the US on May 18.

A 2-0 victory over Dong A Thanh Hoa at Dang Day Stadium on May 17 saw Cong An Ha Noi officially crowned champions of the 2025/2026 V-League with three rounds remaining, capping off an impressive campaign under coach Mano Polking this season.

The Sports Partnership Initiative for Community Health in Viet Nam achieved significant results, including reaching more than 1.2 million people through communications activities, supporting over 229,000 students and residents in maintaining physical activity, and increasing the proportion of students meeting physical activity standards by 22.6% at 10 schools.

An international initiative aimed at promoting the rights and protection of women and girl children through Vovinam, the traditional martial art of Viet Nam, was launched at a ceremony hosted by the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan in Tokyo on May 15.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony was held on May 14, at the Embassy of Viet Nam in the Republic of Korea (RoK) between the Vietnamese Students’ Association in Korea (VSAK) and ICFOOD on cooperation in organising the ICFOOD-VSAK Summer Football Tournament 2026.

The Grand Esports 2026, a series of esports events and tournaments, has been launched on May 14 in Ha Noi, giving players and supporters the opportunity to compete and enjoy high-level matches throughout the year.

Vietnamese athletes have been asked to win at least five gold medals at the 20th Asian Games (ASIAD), which will be held in September in Japan.

The Thai Youth Football fanpage published an article praising the Vietnamese “golden star warriors” for displaying extraordinary fighting spirit in overturning the match to defeat the UAE 3–2, thereby topping Group C for the first time and earning a place at the U17 World Cup in Qatar later this year.

The Viet Nam U17 national team made history by defeating the UAE U17 side 3-2 in their final Group C match at the 2026 AFC U17 Asian Cup finals in the early hours of May 14 (Viet Nam time), thereby securing a place in the quarter-finals and qualifying for the FIFA U17 World Cup for the first time.

The target of winning five gold medals at ASIAD 20 is no longer merely an aspirational statement for Vietnamese sports, it has become an official objective set out in the strategy for the development of high-performance sports through to 2030.

More than 100 young athletes from 11 nations are competing in the ATF U14 Asian Tennis Tournament – Becamex Group Cups 2026 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Southeast Asia’s largest multisport event week concluded in the central coastal city of Da Nang on May 11 with an awarding ceremony honouring outstanding athletes of the VNG IRONMAN Viet Nam 2026.

Viet Nam’s Nguyen Duc Yen Sinh made history on May 10 by becoming the country’s first female player to win the Asian women’s three-cushion title at the 14th Asian Carom Billiards Championships 2026 in Ho Chi Minh City.

In the early hours of May 11 (Viet Nam time), the Viet Nam U17 team were unable to spring a surprise against Republic of Korea U17, suffering a 4-1 comeback defeat in their second Group C match at the 2026 AFC U17 Asian Cup Finals.

On the morning of May 10 (Viet Nam time), the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held the draw for the group stage of the 2027 Asian Cup Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, determining the fixtures for the continent’s biggest football tournament.

For the first time, a national team-level esports tournament bringing together all 11 Southeast Asian countries will be held in Viet Nam, marking a new milestone for Vietnamese esports in its journey towards international integration and regional recognition.

The 2026 National Championships for Athletics and Weightlifting for People with Disabilities officially opened in Thai Nguyen province on May 7 with the participation of numerous athletes and coaches from many localities across the country.

Viet Nam national U17 football team secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Yemen in their opening match of the 2026 AFC U-17 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia early on May 7 (Viet Nam time).