The Vietnam National Games () is a major national multi-sport event normally held in Vietnam once every four years (previously once held every five years from 1985 to 1995), organised by the (). The inaugural Games took place in 1985 in Hanoi, and the most recent was held in 2022 in Quảng Ninh.
Almost every sports delegations representing provinces, cities, ministries, and sectors that have participated in the Games throughout history have won at least one medal in every edition, except for four delegations: Hà Tuyên, Nam Hà, Nghĩa Bình và Thuận Hải, which have never won any medals; these were all former provinces that have now been dissolved, forming eight successor administrative units: Hà Giang and Tuyên Quang (separated from Hà Tuyên), Nam Định and Hà Nam (separated from Nam Hà), Quảng Ngãi and Bình Định (separated from Nghĩa Bình), Bình Thuận and Ninh Thuận (separated from Thuận Hải). After becoming independent, these provinces continued to send athletes to participate as separate sports delegations, and it was from this point that they began to achieve their first significant successes.
The Games have been held in 5 provinces & cities: five times in Hanoi (1985, 1990, 1995, 2002, 2018), and once each in Đà Nẵng (2010), Nam Định (now Ninh Bình) (2014), Quảng Ninh (2022), and Ho Chi Minh City (2006).
Hanoi hosted five times, while four provinces & cities have each hosted once: Ho Chi Minh City will host the games for the second time in 2026. Hanoi leads the all time medal count for the Vietnam National Games, and has topped the medal table on 6 separate occasions.
Hosting Hanoi has hosted the Vietnam National Games five times in 1985, 1990, 1995, 2002 and 2018.
The other provinces & cities to have hosted the Vietnam National Games are Đà Nẵng, Nam Định (now Ninh Bình), Quảng Ninh, and Ho Chi Minh City. with provinces & cities having hosted only one occasion. The 10th Vietnam National Games in Ho Chi Minh City will mark the second time on which the Vietnam National Games have been hosted.
History The National Games were held every 5 years from 1985 to 1995, with the first National Games occurred in Hanoi, the games were held every five years (for three times), then it paused for almost a decade. It wasn't until 2002 that the next National Games, the 4th National Games, was held and since then the National Games has been held regularly every four years until the present.
Future Games The 10th National Games will be held in Ho Chi Minh City, making it the second city after Hanoi to host the National Games two times.
Sports There has been a total of 60 sports in the National Games, with many of them are Summer Olympics, Asian Games, and the SEA Games.
Beach volleyball Volleyball Football
Handball
Artistic Gymnastics Aerobics
Water sports
Terrian Road
All-time medal table Notes: All medal achievements listed below are based only on the statistics up to the end of the 2018 Vietnam National Games. The three-code abbreviation for the names of participating sports delegations only began to be used on the system starting from the 2022 Vietnam National Games, so sports delegations that ceased to exist before that time will not have an abbreviation.
status after the 2022 Vietnam National Games
Medal leaders by year Vietnam National Games medal table leaders by year
1985: Ho Chi Minh City 1990: Ho Chi Minh City 1995: Ho Chi Minh City 2002: Hanoi 2006: Hanoi 2010: Hanoi 2014: Hanoi 2018: Hanoi 2022: Hanoi
Number of occurrences RankNumber of games1 Hanoi6 times2Ho Chi Minh City3 times
List of Vietnam National Games
EditionHostGames datesSports(Disciplines)CompetitorsEventsDelegation(s)Top delegation(s) Total Men Women1985 Hanoi22–25 September 1985151,23384538812527Ho Chi Minh City1990 Hanoi2–9 September 1990181,45384538812546 Ho Chi Minh City1995 Hanoi17–24 September 1995263,7512,6491,10216756Ho Chi Minh City2002 Hanoi14–22 November 2002306,08453364 Hanoi2006Ho Chi Minh City16–24 September 2006537,98267766 Hanoi2010Da Nang25 December 2010 – 5 January 20116090166 Hanoi2014Nam Định6–16 December 2014367,42474165 Hanoi2018 Hanoi15 November – 10 December 2018367,5644,3763,18874365 Hanoi2022Quảng Ninh16–24 September 2022539,4645,5783,88694165 Hanoi2026Ho Chi Minh City20 November – 12 December 202648973
Notes
References