Vietnam women's volleyball team prepares to surpass Thailand for the first time in history

Despite their good form, the Thai women's volleyball team is facing the risk of being surpassed by Vietnam in the world rankings for the first time in history.

Thailand's women's volleyball team will take the field tonight at the 2025 World Championship on home soil - Photo: TVA

At 8:30 p.m. tonight (August 24), host Thailand will face Sweden in the second match of Group A, 2025 Women's Volleyball World Championship.

And if they fail, Thailand will likely be surpassed by Vietnam for the first time in the FIVB (International Volleyball Federation) women's volleyball rankings.

Before this round, Thailand is currently ranked 20th in the world with 162.93 points, right above Bulgaria and Vietnam (155.78 points).

Despite being ranked higher, this result was not really satisfactory for the Thais. In the first round of the Women's Volleyball World Championship, they only beat Egypt - an opponent ranked outside the world's top 50 - with a score of 3-1.

Losing one game means Thailand will only be awarded 2.5 points from this match, instead of 5.7 points if they win 3-0.

In addition, Vietnam only had to deduct symbolic points (0.01 points) when losing 1-3 to Poland. Poland is ranked 3rd in the world, so winning 1 game helped Vietnam avoid deducting points despite losing the final match.

Thus, Thailand is only 7.15 points ahead of Vietnam before the second match. And they will play 1 day earlier in this match.

If Thailand loses to Sweden, they will be deducted quite a lot of points because Sweden is currently ranked 5 places below Thailand in the world rankings. Because the weight of the World Championship is very high, FIVB regulations will make it difficult for Thailand in this match.

Specifically, if they win against Sweden, Thailand will receive a minimum of 5.27 points (in case of a 3-2 win) and a maximum of 11.52 points (in case of a 3-0 win).

Vietnam in the 1-3 loss to Poland - Photo: FIVB

But if they lose, Thailand will be deducted a maximum of 13.48 points (lost 0-3), or 10.36 points (lost 1-3), or 7.23 points (lost 2-3).

So it can be seen that no matter what the score is, Thailand will lose more points than the gap they have with Vietnam. That is, if they lose to Sweden, Thailand will fall below Vietnam on the FIVB rankings.

And that will be the first time in history that Vietnamese women's volleyball officially surpasses Thailand in the world rankings.

Although this is only a temporary result, it still reflects the efforts and continuous progress of Vietnamese women's volleyball in recent times. From always being left behind by Thailand, Vietnamese volleyball girls are getting closer than ever to a historic milestone - topping Southeast Asia on the world rankings.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bong-chuyen-nu-viet-nam-chuan-bi-vuot-mat-thai-lan-lan-dau-tien-trong-lich-su-20250823184508424.htm