ASIAD 2026 conducts draw for 8 team sports on July 23

The organizing committee of the 20th Asian Games (ASIAD 2026) will hold the draw ceremony for team sports on July 23 at the Hilton Nagoya Hotel (Japan), marking a key milestone in the preparations for the Games, scheduled from September 19 to October 4, 2026.

According to the announcement from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), the draw will take place from 1:30 PM to 5:50 PM (Japan time), equivalent to 11:30 AM to 3:50 PM (Vietnam time). Following the draw, there will be a press conference and a welcome reception for attending delegates.

A total of 8 team sports will be included in the draw: water polo, handball, football, sepak takraw, kabaddi, cricket, rugby sevens, and volleyball. These are all sports with a large number of participating teams and attract significant attention ahead of the Games.

For the Vietnamese sports delegation, the draw on July 23 holds significant importance as many national teams are competing in key team sports such as football, volleyball, sepak takraw, handball, rugby sevens, and water polo.

The group draw results will serve as the basis for coaching staff to develop professional plans, study opponents, adjust training programs, and finalize goals for each team before ASIAD 2026 begins.

Among these, football is considered the highlight, as the draw will determine the composition of the groups for both men's and women's events, and also allocate the teams' positions in the group stage schedule.

The Vietnamese women's football team is expected to maintain its position among the top teams in Asia, while the Vietnamese Olympic football team will aim for a favorable draw to have a chance of advancing far in the tournament.

In addition, Vietnam's volleyball, sepak takraw, and handball teams will also learn their first opponents at the Games, providing a basis to finalize their preparation plans in the final phase.

According to the schedule, football will kick off on September 14, earlier than the ASIAD opening ceremony, to accommodate the busy competition calendar.

The draw ceremony will be attended by many high-ranking officials, including the Acting President of the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Organizing Committee (AINAGOC), Nagoya Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa; Chairman of the OCA Coordination Committee Mohammad Tayyab Ikram; Member of the Japan Sports Agency Junichi Kawai; and Vice President of the Japanese Olympic Committee Yuko Mitsuya.

For Asian sports delegations, the draw results will serve as a basis for developing professional preparation plans, studying opponents, and finalizing the roadmap toward ASIAD 2026. After the draw, the organizing committee is expected to announce the full group compositions and detailed competition schedules for each sport on official channels.

The 20th Asian Games will be held in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya City from September 19 to October 4, 2026, bringing together dozens of Asian sports delegations competing in over 40 sports events.

For Vietnamese sports, the draw results on July 23 will mark the beginning of the final preparation phase, as the teams embark on their journey to conquer the largest sports event in Asia.