“Force Map” Changes
From 63 provinces and centrally-run cities, the country now has 34 provincial-level administrative units. This is a turning point in administrative organization, and at the same time poses many new challenges for the sports management system, especially in the context of the 10th National Sports Festival scheduled to take place in 2026. One of the notable issues is the competition for overall rankings between localities and sectors.
In previous Congresses, the overall ranking race often took place between strong sports centers such as Hanoi , Ho Chi Minh City, People's Public Security, Army, Thanh Hoa, Da Nang, Can Tho, Hai Phong... However, from July 1, 2025, the sports force map between provinces, cities, and sectors has changed a lot. The combination of localities with their own strengths in some sports will directly impact the overall ranking race, especially in the top group, at the National Sports Festival in 2026. Even for Hanoi, the unit that has often led the overall ranking since 2022, the problem of keeping the overall ranking is now more and more uncertain.
Before July 1, 2025, the problem for Hanoi is how to revive or maintain its position in strong sports after a long period of facing difficulties in mechanisms leading to training and international competitions not going as planned, and there being no worthy successor generation of athletes.
After July 1, 2025, there will be another problem of the strength of competitors after 23 new provinces and cities are established. Mechanically, the new provinces and cities will be stronger in terms of force in many subjects.
As in cycling, the merger between the Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong racing teams will bring more opportunities for Ho Chi Minh City to win gold medals at the 2026 National Sports Festival. This is completely reasonable when the female athletes of Binh Duong have always won gold medals in the cross-country event. Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City is "not famous" in the Vietnamese cycling community in this event.
Or in petanque. While the Ba Ria - Vung Tau team has affirmed its name in recent years by regularly winning gold medals at the National Championship, the Ho Chi Minh City team has not won gold medals in many tournaments in the national competition system in recent years. In general, after July 1, 2025, the number of teams participating in tournaments in the national competition system is expected to be around 12 teams instead of 18 teams as before.
According to the view of the Head of the Petanque Department (Hanoi Sports Training and Competition Center) Dang Xuan Vui, the combination between provinces and cities will of course make the strength of many new units much stronger. Petanque is also inevitable and logically, the Hanoi team will face stronger competition than before. However, the level of competition depends on the combination of teams after July 1, 2025. This will be more evident in the upcoming national tournaments.
Don't let the groups be passive.
But before considering the change in the overall ranking after the country has 34 provincial-level administrative units, perhaps we need to pay attention to the promulgation of the Regulations for the 2026 National Sports Festival. Until July 2025, that is, just over a year until the expected opening date - both the Project and the Framework Regulations for the Festival are still in the process of being completed.
In fact, the delay in promulgating the Charter is not new.
Immediately after the 9th National Sports Congress in 2022, experts spoke up to request the Vietnam Sports Administration to urgently issue the Organization Project and Framework Charter of the 10th National Sports Congress in 2023. That is the ideal time for localities to have long-term investment orientation for the 4-year cycle.
In 2022, it will not be until the end of August - only three months before the opening day - that the Organizational Plan and Framework Charter of the 9th National Sports Congress will be issued. That leaves participating units with only a short time to complete personnel plans, register competition content and prepare professionally.
If this scenario repeats itself, the professional quality and image of a national sports festival will be difficult to ensure. Many athletes may not be able to perform at their best due to the rushed preparation time, and localities may be confused in setting targets and training.
Up to now, the scale and structure of the 2026 National Sports Festival are still in the process of being finalized. This is also an issue of concern to experts. The 2018 Games had 36 sports and 743 events, and by 2022, this number has skyrocketed to 43 sports and 941 events, including many sports that are not in the Olympic or ASIAD programs such as pole pushing, tug of war, lion and dragon dancing, traditional martial arts, etc.
The “increasing” number of sports has forced many localities to disperse investment resources to sports that are not the country’s key, in order to seek achievements and points in the overall rankings. This is completely contrary to the general direction of the Sports industry, which is to focus on Olympic and ASIAD sports.
Former General Director of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training Vuong Bich Thang has repeatedly spoken out about this problem. He believes that if the competition structure is not adjusted to be more streamlined and closely follow major international arenas, the National Sports Festival will continue to waste resources, divert investment, and fail to inspire real competition motivation for localities.
Therefore, the story is not only about the competitiveness of the 2026 National Sports Festival but also about the urgency of the Sports sector in issuing the National Sports Festival Regulations. From there, experts have a basis to assess the overall race of the Congress after many new provinces have been established.
Pickleball to be included in the 2026 National Sports Festival?
Pickleball - a trendy sport today has been proposed to be added to the list of competitions in the 2026 National Sports Festival. This is to anticipate the trend and create momentum for the community sports movement. However, the development of Pickleball in international playgrounds such as SEA Games, ASIAD is still a question mark. (Minh Khue)
Source: https://cand.com.vn/Tieu-diem-van-hoa/dai-hoi-the-thao-toan-quoc-2026-cuoc-dua-toan-doan-se-khac-i773569/
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