Commentary 26/08/28 Football Boots and Brocade Skirts

[성기화 요셉]

Vietnam's first national tournament for ethnic minority women is revealing a football culture that has quietly flourished across generations

A player kicks the football during the inaugural Vietnam Ethnic Minority Women's Football VTV Cup, held from Aug. 23-29 in Nghĩa Lộ in Vietnam's mountainous north. (Photo:Tuan Nguyen)

By Alex Hoang

Published: August 28, 2026 12:11 PM GMT

Updated: August 29, 2026 03:24 AM GMT

The stands are packed. Every attack brings a roar from the crowd, and when the ball hits the net, spectators leap to their feet. On the pitch, players fight for every ball and celebrate goals wildly.

Some matches in Vietnam's professional V-League would envy this atmosphere.

Yet the players are not professionals. Many are farmers and students from ethnic minority communities. One is 43 years old. Another, just 16, grew up watching her mother and grandmother play football.

Instead of ordinary football shorts, many run across the pitch in skirts adapted from their ethnic groups' traditional dress, with colorful woven patterns above modern football boots.

This is the inaugural Vietnam Ethnic Minority Women's Football VTV Cup, held from Aug. 23-29 in Nghĩa Lộ in Vietnam's mountainous north. Twelve grassroots teams from nine provinces have gathered for the tournament.

At first glance, the clothing may be the most striking sight. But look beyond the patterned skirts and another story emerges.

These women did not start playing because a national tournament was created for them. In some communities, they have been playing for generations.

When football becomes tradition

Vietnam officially recognizes 54 ethnic groups, including the Kinh majority and 53 ethnic minorities with diverse languages, customs and social traditions.

Ethnic minority women are often presented through familiar images of colorful clothing, handicrafts, mountain markets and cultural festivals.

The VTV Cup offers another picture.

The traditional patterns remain, but the women wearing them are sprinting, tackling, falling, getting back up and trying to win.

Culture here does not survive by standing still. It moves.

Nor should strong women on the field necessarily be seen as rejecting tradition. Throughout Vietnamese history, powerful women have repeatedly left their mark, from the Trưng Sisters and Lady Triệu to later military commanders such as Lê Chân and Bùi Thị Xuân.

Women's roles among ethnic minorities are also diverse. Some communities, particularly in the Central Highlands, have matrilineal traditions or give women important positions in family life.

It would therefore be too simple to describe these footballers as women being "liberated" from tradition by sport.

In some places, football itself has become part of tradition.

In Nam Tuấn, a mountainous commune in Cao Bằng province, Hoàng Thị Như, 43, is the oldest member of the local team.

Như told the online edition of Cao Bằng Newspaper that playing alongside younger teammates and representing her commune at a national tournament had brought her more joy in a sport she has loved for years.

At the other end of the team is 16-year-old Vương Thị Thủy Tiên.

Tiên told Cao Bằng Newspaper that she grew up watching women play during annual spring festivals. Her grandmother played football. Her mother did too.

Now it is her turn.

Tradition can live in clothing, food, music and festivals. But in Nam Tuấn, women's football has also been passed from grandmother to mother to daughter.

They were already playing

More than 1,000 kilometers south, Thươn, 31, captains the Đak Đoa team from the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai.

A Bahnar farmer, she normally works on upland fields and coffee farms. She started playing football as a child after watching boys play and thinking it looked fun.

Nguyễn Dũng, coach of the Đak Đoa women's team, said the local movement largely grew from the community itself. His players range from schoolgirls to women in their mid-30s working in agriculture.

Their biggest problems are money, work and a lack of competitions. Teams sometimes travel to neighboring Đắk Lắk province or even Ho Chi Minh City simply to find tournaments.

Families generally support the women playing, Dũng said. But professional football is more complicated.

Talented young players have sometimes been invited for trials by professional clubs, only for families to refuse because their daughters would have to move far from home.

The question is not always whether a woman can play football. It is how far from home football can take her.

From visibility to opportunity

For Đak Đoa, that question suddenly became more immediate this week.

After the team defeated Lâm Bình 2-1 to reach the VTV Cup final, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, one of Vietnam's best-known football clubs, submitted a proposal on Aug. 28 to take over and develop the entire Đak Đoa women's team.

The club and its academy propose providing professional coaching, facilities, nutrition and medical support to eventually enter the team in Vietnam's national women's championship.

The plan still requires approval from local authorities. But if it goes ahead, a grassroots team of farmers and schoolgirls could begin a transition toward professional football.

The proposal is particularly significant in light of Dũng's concerns about young players leaving home.

Instead of selecting a few talented girls and asking them to move away individually, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai is proposing to develop the existing team.

For women who once had to travel hundreds of kilometers just to find competitions, a professional pathway could now be moving closer to them.

They were already there

Perhaps that is what makes the VTV Cup significant.

It did not bring football to ethnic minority women. Nor did it suddenly give them strength or modernity. Those things were already there.

In Cao Bằng, a 16-year-old grew up watching her mother and grandmother play. In Gia Lai, farmers formed teams and travelled long distances looking for opponents. Thươn started simply because football looked fun.

The tournament gave them something different: visibility.

And within days, that visibility had already begun turning into opportunity.

On the pitch, a player in a traditional patterned skirt scores and runs toward her teammates. The crowd erupts again.

They were already playing.

Now, the rest of Vietnam is watching, and for some of them, the road toward professional football may finally be opening.

*This article has been updated since its first publication. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.