Vietnam men's volleyball championship 2026: eight teams and 13 foreign players start stage two at Phú Thọ on 28 October

Stage two and the finals of Vietnam's 2026 men's national volleyball championship get under way on 28 October at Phú Thọ Arena in Ho Chi Minh City. According to Thanh Niên, the eight teams have registered 13 foreign players for this phase, three more than in stage one. Entry is free, and every match will be shown live on VTVcab's ON Sports channel and VTVprime app. It is the first time since 2015 that the city has hosted the national championship.

On the afternoon of 26 October, all eight squads laid flowers at the President Hồ Chí Minh Monument Park on Nguyễn Huệ walking street and at Park No. 1 Lý Thái Tổ, SGGP reported. The same day, the Vietnam Volleyball Federation installed the Video Challenge Eyes review system at Phú Thọ to support referees.

Format and the stage-one table

In stage two each team plays the others once, with results added to stage-one records. The top four reach the semi-finals, first against fourth and second against third, while the bottom four fight relegation. Thanh Niên notes that this gives the strongest sides, Công an TP.HCM and Biên Phòng, a reason to chase position as well as a place, so they avoid meeting early.

Stage one was played in Hà Nội. The standings after seven matches, per Thanh Niên:

Thirteen imports, with Morteza Sharifi the headline name

Each club may register up to two foreign players but can field only one at a time. The table combines the list confirmed by the Vietnam Volleyball Federation (via SGGP) with nationalities reported by Thanh Niên:

Coaches quoted by Thanh Niên rate Công an TP.HCM's Morteza Sharifi as the standout import. The 27-year-old hitter was a key figure in Iran's gold medal at ASIAD 20 in Japan; he stands 1.93 m but reaches 3.73 m on his spike approach, and he scored 115 points for Iran at the 2026 Nations League. Thể Công Tân Cảng's American opposite Anthony Cherfan, 24 and 2 m tall, brings experience from the United States, France and Argentina.

Title race and relegation fight

Hosts Công an TP.HCM, coached by Nguyễn Văn Hạnh, are rated highly thanks to their two imports and local players such as Phạm Quốc Dư, Quản Trọng Nghĩa and Giang Văn Đức. Their biggest rivals are defending champions Biên Phòng, whose imports are seen as weaker but whose core, including Nguyễn Ngọc Thuân, Đinh Văn Duy and Trương Thế Khải, has played together for a long time; Thanh Niên likens the army club to a national team in miniature. Thể Công Tân Cảng, Hà Nội and Ninh Bình can also push for the semi-finals, while TP.HCM, Đà Nẵng and Sanest Khánh Hòa, who struggled in stage one, are expected to battle relegation.

What's next

The teams attend a technical meeting on 27 October to confirm their official 14-player squads, SGGP reports, and organisers carry out a final check on foreign players' eligibility, including the mandatory International Transfer Certificate (ITC). The opening day on 28 October has four matches, according to the schedule published by Thanh Niên:

Both title favourites open against sides from the lower half of the stage-one table: leaders Biên Phòng face sixth-placed TP.HCM, and second-placed hosts Công an TP.HCM close the day against Sanest Khánh Hòa, who shared the bottom two places after stage one.