Vietnam Sports Day March 27: Redefining the stature of sports in the new era

Last year, the Japan Football Association proposed establishing an East Asia-Southeast Asia alliance to host the 2046 World Cup. However, in that plan, the four Southeast Asian representatives proposed to participate were Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Vietnam was not included, simply because at that time we did not have stadiums meeting World Cup standards.

However, the landscape is rapidly changing. In the near future (2027-2030), Vietnam is expected to possess 2-3 top-tier Asian stadiums of world-class caliber, such as the PVF stadium in Hung Yen with 60,000 seats, the Olympic Sports Urban Area project (Hanoi) with the Trống Đồng stadium accommodating up to 90,000 seats, and Ho Chi Minh City has also initiated the Rach Chíc project, with a central stadium having 50,000-60,000 seats meeting FIFA standards.

The story of football is a slice of a larger question: After 80 years of construction and development, where does Vietnamese sports stand on the regional and world map? And in the new era, what direction will comprehensively redefine its stature?

Achievements on the international stage are an important part. Medals from ASIAD and the Olympics are always a measure. However, if we only focus on improving performance, we will lag behind countries with strong sports foundations. Reality shows that the path to advancement lies not only in medals but also in "soft power," the ability to organize top-tier world sporting events.

This is a shorter, breakthrough-oriented path with strong ripple effects. Vietnam has successfully organized two SEA Games, we are a destination for many world and Asian tournaments, but in reality, the gap from organizing events by "accepting tasks" to competing to host continental and world-scale events at the highest level of professionalism and commerce... is a very long distance.

The stature of a modern sports nation is not just about our ranking, but about what we can organize. Hosting world-scale tournaments, from the World Cup (within a Southeast Asian alliance) to Formula 1 races or tennis Masters events, is precisely the most effective way to spread "soft power."

These are the "boosts" that position Vietnam on the global geopolitical and economic map, turning sports into a powerful diplomatic language. The world's largest professional sporting events also generate direct economic impact from tourism, commerce, infrastructure investment, and accompanying services. This is the foundation of the "sports economy," involving commercial rights, logistics, image marketing, and direct consumption.

The Vietnam Sports Economy Forum, the 3rd in March 2026, organized under the guidance of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on March 27, will be the first time concepts regarding the "stature" of Vietnamese sports are outlined with anticipated themes: Can sports become a new driver for local tourism and economy, and does Vietnam need a national strategy for sports economy? Notably, the Forum will release the Vietnam Sports Economy Report 2026, a document expected to provide a comprehensive and updated view of this field.

It may be late, but it is time for these issues to be raised to "redraw" the stature of Vietnamese sports. In reality, compared to waiting for generations of athletes to achieve high results, elevating organizational capacity, building strategies for hosting global events, is a proactive "forward-looking" step, leveraging the unique advantages of the country in the new era: political stability, youthful population, deep integration needs, and most importantly, breakthrough mechanisms and policies, and decisive guidance from the Party and Government.

Key sports projects expected to be built in the very near future, approved for investment at lightning speed, applying special mechanisms... are precisely the embodiment of that determination.

In the new era, Vietnamese sports does not only aspire to rise through the efforts of athletes, but also through a strategic vision: making sports a new growth driver, using world-class projects and events as symbols, and measuring status by the spread of "soft power."