Basketball

Nguyễn Bảo Hoàng is trusted to lead the Việt Nam Basketball Federation in 2024-29. Photos courtesy of VBF

HCM CITY — Nguyễn Bảo Hoàng will continue to lead the Việt Nam Basketball Federation (VBF) as he has been re-elected President for the 2024-29 term.

At the seventh congress meeting held over the weekend in HCM City, Bảo received high votes from more than 120 delegates representing different agencies, departments and individual members and organisations of the federation from all national cities and provinces.

Hoàng currently is the President of the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) for the 2023-27 term. He is also a member of the FIBA ​​3x3 Council of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) from September 2019 to present.

He co-founded the Vietnam Pro Basketball League (VBA) in 2016. In addition to sport works in Việt Nam, he is also a co-owner of the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) football team which won the American Professional Soccer League (MLS) in 2022.

Hoàng is chairman of Phoenix Holdings Company, a company investing in the fields of technology, retail, consumer, media and digital banking. He is also a franchise partner of McDonald's Corporation in Việt Nam. He serves as a member of the Board of Trust of Fulbright University Vietnam and is chairman of the Advisory Board of the Vietnam Smile Surgery Foundation.

Delegates take part in the seventh congress of the VBF on January 27 in HCM City.

After taking his position, Hoàng and the new executive committee promised to unite and determined to continuously develop Vietnamese basketball, increase its position in the Southeast Asian region, and confidently enter the larger field in the continent and world.

At the congress, delegates reviewed the federation's activities of the previous term and set up targets for the next one.

In recent years, VBF made remarkable achievements. 

At the national level, the federation built up middle- and long-term programmes for the national teams of different ages with a view to professionally train talented players for future competitions.

The 'School Basketball' project was one of the highlights when VBA worked with Jr. NBA (a global youth basketball programme) to train basketball skills and core values, as well as improve the basketball experience for Vietnamese students in more than 3,000 schools in eight localities. The project was also among activities to improve the physique and stature of the young generation.

In an attempt to develop basketball professionally, VBF jointly proposed and organised the VBA featuring seven teams which gathered the best athletes from basketball clubs across the country. From this competition, they sharpened skills to take part in the regional SEA Games.

Trương Thảo Vy of Việt Nam (right) in action during the 32nd SEA Games' women's 3x3 match last May in Cambodia. VNA/VNS Photo Hoàng Linh

The national men's 3x3 and 5x5 teams both won bronze at the 30th Games in the Philippines, Việt Nam’s first basketball medals in the Southeast Asia Games.

At the 31st Games, the men's and women's 3x3 team both took silver on home ground before winning the gold in the women's 3x3 for the first time in history at the last May’s Games in Cambodia.

For the upcoming years, VBF will maintain their ongoing projects and set five key tasks including: promoting basketball, an Olympic sport, to be the second most popular sport in the country; improving the quantity, quality and achievements of the national professional basketball and national basketball teams; increasing the number and improving the quality of referees, coaches and experts managing, operating and organising domestic competitions while inviting those with Vietnamese origin to contribute to their homeland; diversifying forms of basketball practice, training and competitions to improve Vietnamese people's health and fitness; and developing sport economic, entertainment, services and other resources from basketball activities. VNS