Vietnamese volleyball is absent from the list of nominees for the 2025 National Outstanding Athletes

The nomination list for the 2025 National Outstanding Athletes, published by the Vietnam Department of Sports and Physical Training, excludes all male and female volleyball team members.

Nomination list for selection 2025 National Outstanding Athletes released by the Vietnam Department of Sports and Physical Training does not feature any male or female volleyball players. This is notable given that Vietnamese volleyball recently completed a year filled with numerous international and regional competitions.

According to the annual procedure, the nomination list is created based on the consolidated opinions from various sports branches under the Vietnam Department of Sports and Physical Training, national sports federations, associations, and the media. After a review process, the final list is published for voting. In 2025, neither indoor volleyball nor beach volleyball players are represented in the National Outstanding Athletes nomination list.

Over the past year, the Vietnamese women's volleyball team achieved several remarkable results. The team won the 2025 AVC Nations Cup, secured a championship in one leg of the 2025 SEA V.League, participated in the World Championship, and earned a silver medal at the 33rd SEA Games. The SEA Games squad consisted of 14 athletes, including well-known players such as Trần Thị Thanh Thúy, Hoàng Thị Kiều Trinh, Vi Thị Như Quỳnh, Đoàn Thị Lâm Oanh, and Nguyễn Khánh Đang.

However, volleyball is a team sport, and selecting outstanding individual athletes for nomination often faces challenges if there are no players with truly exceptional personal achievements. Among the female players, Trần Thị Thanh Thúy is highly regarded for her skills and leadership. Nevertheless, in 2025, she did not compete in the national championship wearing the VTV Bình Điền Long An jersey due to playing abroad, and the national team only won silver at the SEA Games and did not medal at the World Championship. These factors affected her chances of being nominated individually.

Previously, in 2024, there was a case Nguyễn Thị Bích Tuyền who was the sole female volleyball player to be included in the top 10 National Outstanding Athletes. In the same year, coach Nguyễn Tuấn Kiệt was voted the Outstanding Coach, and the Vietnamese women's volleyball team was honored as the Outstanding Team.

In this year's voting, coach Nguyễn Tuấn Kiệt remains on the list of nominees for the 2025 National Outstanding Coach, but the women's volleyball team is not among the nominated teams. According to the plan, the voting for the 2025 National Outstanding Athletes and Coaches will continue until December 30. The organizers also stated that journalists and reporters have the right to propose and vote for individuals outside the initial nomination list according to current regulations.