Surabaya, E. Java. The Vietnam Volleyball Federation (VFV) has lodged an appeal to the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) following the disqualification of two of its players from the 2025 FIVB U21 Women’s World Championship.

In a statement on Wednesday, VFV said it had fulfilled all registration requirements set by the FIVB and submitted complete documentation for its players, which was reviewed and approved before the tournament began.

The VFV said it had complied with FIVB regulations for athlete registration and submitted all necessary documents in advance, which the FIVB reviewed and approved, allowing the athletes to compete.

According to VFV, the FIVB later introduced additional profile requirements for Vietnam’s national team athletes --criteria that had not been applied previously.

The VFV said the decision to declare the athletes ineligible was made on Aug. 12 based on additional profile requirements and other conditions that had never been applied before.

The controversy surfaced after the FIVB disqualified Vietnam’s U21 women’s team for fielding two players identified as male. While the FIVB did not release their names, Vietnamese players Dang Thi Hong and Phuong Quynh were notably absent from the lineup in the team’s fifth Pool A match against Puerto Rico at the Jawa Pos Arena in Surabaya on Tuesday.

The FIVB cited Article 12.2 of its player regulations in annulling all match results involving the two athletes and removing them from the championship.

The federation said the FIVB Disciplinary Sub-Committee, citing Article 13.5.2 of the Event Regulations and Article 14.4 of the Disciplinary Regulations, had decided to cancel all matches involving the two players and disqualify them from the championship.

As a result, Vietnam will not advance to the Round of 16 and will instead compete for positions 17–24. The team is set to face Egypt on Wednesday.