VBA 3x3 Prime 2023: Answering difficult questions about the different basketball model in Vietnam

On March 18, the second season of the Vietnam Professional 3x3 Basketball Tournament - VBA 3x3 will kick off the first leg in Hanoi Capital. This year's tournament has changed its name to VBA 3x3 Prime 2023, bringing many differences from the first version that took place in the middle of last year.

To answer questions about the special competition model that VBA is aiming for, plus some points that need to be clarified for fans, Webthethao reporter had a conversation with Mr. Tran Chu Sa, CEO of the company. Vietnam Basketball Joint Stock Company, representative of the VBA 3x3 Prime 2023 organizing committee right before the opening day.

From VBA 3x3 last year changed to VBA 3x3 Prime in 2023. So is this just a name change or is there any other difference? The answer here is the concept of "expansion" emphasized by the CEO of VBA, towards the change in numbers in both the team and the athletes participating in the tournament. Besides, the game is not only encapsulated in the country but also expanded abroad.

“VBA 3x3 2022 is considered the first year prototype. With this model, last year's tournament was only wrapped up in VBA clubs and a few guest teams directly worked by VBA to participate in the tournament.

This year, VBA has boldly expanded the competition model, especially with the participation of international guest teams as well as expanded the registration model for clubs outside VBA to participate in the tournament.

It cannot be ignored that this year the tournament will put to the test the women's 3x3 basketball content. These are very big changes and with the goal of VBA, we want to make the tournament more and more open,” said Mr. Tran Chu Sa.

Along with the improvement in quantity, VBA also wishes to improve the quality and direct the image of 3x3 basketball in Vietnam to the international level. This is done by bringing VBA 3x3 Prime 2023 into the competition system of FIBA ​​3x3 (World Basketball Federation).

“VBA will upgrade its league in terms of the number of teams and the quality of expertise, and register to participate in the 3x3 system of the World Basketball Federation, starting right from this year's tournament.

Specifically, the organizers will register VBA 3x3 Prime this year to become a prize with Lite Quest Final level, equivalent to level 6 in the FIBA ​​3x3 system. At this level, the winning team at the Grand Final of VBA 3x3 Prime will have the opportunity to compete in the Challenger, the higher level tournament system in the region,” said the CEO of VBA.

So to achieve the set goals, what does VBA have to do with this year's 3x3 Prime to satisfy the requirements of FIBA? In addition to the prerequisites in terms of organization, equipment and facilities, the World Federation also has regulations on the number of participating teams.

“With FIBA ​​3x3, they have minimum requirements that VBA needs to meet to be allowed to host this level of tournament. For example, the number of participating teams needs to be at least 12 teams. Due to the current number of teams is not enough (11 teams), VBA will have one more high quality guest team in the final stage to meet the requirements of FIBA ​​3x3. In addition, the Federation also has a number of things that need to be met such as the size of the organization, the facilities, and the competition equipment that VBA uses.

VBA aims to continue working with the 3x3 Basketball World Federation to elevate the league to even higher levels. One of the goals that VBA is aiming for in the future is to organize a level 7 tournament, ie Quest Final.

In order to achieve this level, the tournament must meet even higher standards, so the organizers will try to make next year VBA can achieve this level."

It is not difficult to see that VBA currently has only 7 clubs. If maintaining the model of the previous year with 1 team representing the sponsor and 1 team participating in the national team, the number that VBA has is only 9 teams.

Plus 4 VBA teams asked to withdraw from this 3x3 tournament, so what was the plan to reach 12 clubs? The answer is guests and teams outside of VBA.

First, Mr. Tran Chu Sa explained the absence of the three clubs Danang Dragons, Nha Trang Dolphins and Hanoi Buffaloes as follows:

“Although VBA 3x3 Prime 2023 is still part of the VBA tournament system, the organizers have also shaped this tournament to become an open platform. Participation of the entire VBA Club is optional.

As the original tournament founders, VBA clubs will have the right to decide whether or not they will participate in the VBA 3x3 Prime tournament. This team will register and inform VBA in advance for a prescribed period of time.

What about clubs outside of VBA, who are they and how are they formed? Mr. Chu Sa further explained that the concept of "expansion" pursued by the tournament is not only open to players and teams, but also open to attracting new investors:

“As for VBA 3x3 Prime, this is a tournament aimed at expanding the platform for external individual investors who wish to participate in the VBA prize system.

This is partly to reduce the input burden of VBA investors, which leads us to not force VBA clubs to participate in the tournament. Each club will evaluate its own competitiveness, the level of readiness of the players and the ability to conquer the tournament, from which they will decide the level of investment for the tournament, whether to participate in the competition or not.

With this model, in the immediate future in the 3x3 Prime 2023 tournament, only 4 clubs want to participate in the competition. But I hope that in the coming years, with the potential of the tournament, I hope that all VBA clubs will join in, making the tournament more exciting and attractive."

This concept of new investors and clubs outside of VBA is quite strange. So these investors only need to have economic potential to own a VBA team? With just money, they can put whoever they want into the competition system that has been built and perfected over the years?

Mr. Tran Chu Sa explained about this story that VBA 3x3 Prime is a short-term tournament. The clubs that exist in the 3x3 league can be completely independent from the traditional 5x5 content.

If the complexity, funding requirements and huge resources of joining a 5x5 football team have deterred many investors from investing in VBA, then with 3x3 Prime, they have a short-term solution to their passion and love of football. his basket.

In terms of economic problems, if VBA 5x5 is a long-term tournament with strict requirements in many aspects for investors, VBA 3x3 is a test for them to enter the basketball world. Adding new investors to the VBA as well as the basketball market in general is considered one of the goals set by BTC.

“Regarding the participation in the VBA 3x3 tournament, the organizers realized that recently there are many investors who are very passionate and love basketball. They want to participate in the VBA tournament system and want to invest in a professional basketball club.

But if investing in a 5x5 VBA club will be a relatively difficult and complicated process, requiring to meet many requirements in terms of legal, infrastructure, technical expertise. Another factor is that the number of domestic athletes who are ready to compete cannot meet the requirements to add a new team to the VBA 5x5 tournament.

This is also one of the reasons that VBA promotes the organization of 3x3 tournaments, a simpler platform, lower investment costs and easier to attend so that investors who love basketball can nurture my passion, helping basketball to grow in breadth across the country”, said CEO of VBA.

“Registering to establish a club to participate in VBA 3x3 Prime 2023, the tournament also has certain standards, not every budget and payment will be done.

In the immediate future, this year, while testing a new model, VBA will send invitations directly to investors who have had prior interest or have wished to participate in VBA. Besides, we also send invitations to potential investors so that they can participate in the tournament.

Participating here is not only by paying money, but the clubs must follow the rules, strict regulations on the squad and the quality of the players participating, including how domestic and foreign athletes are. Thereby ensuring work and professional quality.

As in VBA 3x3 Prime 2023, the organizers require clubs to have at least 1 foreign player or player of Vietnamese origin to ensure the quality of competition. After receiving and checking the registration documents from the clubs, the VBA organizers will continue to support the clubs to solve common professional problems, mainly in operation such as completing Procedures related to players…

This is also a difficulty that clubs outside VBA have encountered, leading to a team having to withdraw because it cannot guarantee the professional quality to play. This reduces the number of teams this year from 12 to 11 as currently. As mentioned above, we will add a team later in the tournament to ensure the number of teams as originally required by FIBA ​​3x3.”

Talking more about the standard of athlete classification, the representative of the organizers said that all players will be divided into two groups. One is a group of Vietnamese athletes and the other is a group of non-Vietnamese athletes, the second group includes foreign athletes and players of Vietnamese origin.

“The tournament is oriented to expand from the beginning, so the organizers do not prescribe too harshly like 5x5, only decentralize athletes into two main groups. One is a Vietnamese athlete and the other is a non-Vietnamese athlete. The second part includes overseas Vietnamese players, Vietnamese origin and foreign athletes, all of whom share the same class of players.

Clubs coming to VBA 3x3 Prime this year can be divided into many different orientations and goals. There are clubs that compete for rankings, there are clubs that come to compete with the purpose of rubbing and developing young players like City Wings.

For example, a special guest team like Vietnam Select with members preparing for the national team. Among the two foreign guest clubs, there is the Rising Stars team of Malaysia, whose members are young players of the national team of this country.

Some teams participate in the competition with the purpose of experiencing the professional competition model, building a squad that can keep up with the professional quality of VBA clubs. With this diversity of goals, each club will have different squad-building tactics, how to ensure the competitiveness of each team."

*****

Now in the second year of the new competition organization model, it can be seen that VBA 3x3 Prime 2023 is aiming for two parallel goals. This is both a form of attracting more investors and a way to elevate Vietnam's 3x3 basketball on the world map.

The space for growth and improvement is still very much, where more questions or difficult questions will arise.

Thank you Mr. Tran Chu Sa for taking the time to do this interview.