Five 'lightning' foreign players at the 2025 National Volleyball Championship

Michal Kubiak (13) - captain of the Polish men's volleyball team, twice world champion - now plays for the Ho Chi Minh City Police Club - Photo: FIVB

There are a total of 18 foreign players competing in the 2025 National Volleyball Championship in both men's and women's categories. Tuoi Tre Online introduces to readers the 5 foreign players who are considered the best in the tournament.

1. Michal Kubiak (Ho Chi Minh City Police)

Although he completed the last-minute procedures to participate in the 2025 National Championship, Michal Kubiak is also the most notable star at this year's tournament.

The Polish striker is considered the best athlete to have ever played in Vietnam. Previously, Michal Kubiak was the captain of the Polish volleyball team - one of the best men's teams in the world. He won the 2012 World League with the Polish team, and twice won the FIVB World Championship in 2014 and 2018.

Michal Kubiak is currently ranked by Volleybox as one of the top 100 best male volleyball players in the world. During his career, he has won 23 individual titles, including outstanding awards such as: Best Scorer of the 2016 Olympics, Best Player (MVP) and Best Scorer of the Turkish National Championship 2015-2016, 2 times MVP and 2 times Best Striker of the Japanese National Championship, Best Striker of the Volleyball Nations League 2021.

Those titles in tournaments of very high quality show the class of striker Michal Kubiak (38 years old).

Sharon Chepchumba in the Duc Giang Chemical Women's Club shirt - Photo: QUANG MINH

2. Sharon Chepchumba (Duc Giang Chemicals)

Sharon Chepchumba is a name that competed in the second stage of the 2024 National Volleyball Championship. Vietnamese volleyball fans are no strangers to the class of the "black star". Chepchumba not only has good first-step defense but her attacking ability is also very powerful.

The title of Best Attacker of the 2024 season is a testament to Chepchumba's class. She will certainly continue to be a notable name in this year's tournament in the Duc Giang Chemicals shirt.

3. Edina Begic (Geleximco Thai Binh)

Edina Begic (Bosnia & Herzegovina) plays as a main attacker. The 1992-born player has played in many of the world's leading volleyball teams in Milan (Italy), Moscow (Russia) and most recently Beijing (China).

During her career, she won second and third place in the Italian Serie A1, the top professional league in women's volleyball in the world. Along with that, she won the CEV Cup and Challenge Cup.

Fans of the rice-country team have the right to expect that Begic's class can help Geleximco Thai Binh Club complete its relegation goal.

Miroslava Paskova (LP Bank Ninh Binh) is actively practicing with the team - Photo: QUANG MINH

4. Miroslava Paskova (LPBank Ninh Binh)

After successfully defending the Hoa Lu Binh Dien Cup championship, LPBank Ninh Binh also introduced its foreign player, the 1996-born main striker Miroslava Paskova. She is the captain of the Bulgarian national team, having competed in major tournaments such as the Volleyball Nations League.

At the age of 28, this 1.8m tall striker has also played in all the top European tournaments. LPBank Ninh Binh is the 12th club in Miroslava Paskova's career. With extensive experience and an extremely tenacious mentality, the Bulgarian striker is considered a quality addition to the 2023 national champion.

5. Alejandro Rodriguez Fuentes (The Cong Tan Cang)

Alejandro Rodriguez Fuentes is one of two Cuban foreign players of Tan Cang The Cong Club. With a height of 2.1m, he is also the tallest athlete at the 2025 National Championship.

But that's not all, Fuentes has a 3.55m blocking range and a 3.78m jump, these are numbers that have never appeared in Vietnam.

That is also a huge advantage for Alejandro Rodriguez Fuentes when competing in the Vietnam National Championship. If he can combine well with the setter of The Cong Tan Cang, the Cuban setter promises to be an important explosive force that brings many points to the army team.

The 2025 National Volleyball Championship is divided into two phases. Phase 1 will take place from March 22 to 31 at Dong Anh District Gymnasium (Hanoi). Phase 2 and the final ranking round will take place from October 10 to 19 at Ninh Binh Provincial Gymnasium.

The tournament has 8 male and 8 female teams participating, including: MB Border Guard, Ho Chi Minh City Police, Da Nang, Hanoi, Lavie Long An, LBBank Ninh Binh, Sanest Khanh Hoa, The Cong Tan Cang (male); Geleximco Thai Binh, Duc Giang Lao Cai Chemicals, LPBank Ninh Binh, Ho Chi Minh City, Thong Tin Dong Bac, Vietinbank, VTV Binh Dien Long An, Long Son Thanh Hoa Cement (female).

The teams will compete in a round robin format to rank from 1 to 8. At the end of the round robin, the top 4 teams will advance to the final round to determine the champion. The bottom 4 teams will compete in a round robin format, and the bottom team will be relegated to the 2026 A-Class Volleyball Tournament.

The total prize of the tournament is 2.28 billion VND. The winning team will receive 500 million VND, the second place team will receive 300 million VND, the third place team will receive 200 million VND and the fourth place team will receive 100 million VND (both male and female).

Read more Back to Topics

QUANG MINH