What did Coach Rampazzo do to help the Vietnamese volleyball team win the historic championship at the 2026 SEA V.Cup?

Working with a team for two months is an extremely short time, but Coach Federico Rampazzo has accomplished a great deal. The first-ever SEA V.Cup title in the history of Vietnamese men's volleyball bears the clear mark of the Italian coach.

On the journey to becoming the "king" of regional men's volleyball, Vietnam defeated both top rivals: Indonesia in the semifinals and Thailand in the final.

In particular, the first victory over the Indonesian men's team in 11 years gave Ngọc Thuân and his teammates a tremendous mental boost. They entered the 2026 SEA V.Cup final against Thailand with great confidence and a fierce desire to win.

That was one of the key "weapons" that helped Vietnam come from behind to beat Thailand 3-2 and claim the championship of the second leg of the 2026 SEA V.Cup.

Taking over the Vietnamese men's volleyball team from his predecessor Dương Đình Tiền, Coach Rampazzo did not revolutionize the roster or playing style, but he became an excellent "fire-starter" alongside timely time‑outs, and most of his personnel adjustments were accurate.

The familiar image we saw of the Italian coach in the recent matches at the 2026 SEA V.Cup was his extremely passionate celebrations, his constant note‑taking about ball‑handling situations of both his players and opponents, along with timely time‑outs (usually when Vietnam was trailing by 3‑4 points) aimed at breaking the opponent's momentum or to promptly adjust tactics and remind his players about a certain technical issue.

Clearly, Coach Rampazzo's passionate coaching style gave Ngọc Thuân, Duy Tuyến and their teammates immense confidence to play effectively with high focus and determination throughout the matches.

In the final of the second leg of the 2026 SEA V.Cup against Thailand, Coach Rampazzo calculated precisely when he decided to successively pull out Ngọc Thuân, Duy Tuyến, and Dương Văn Tiên to rest in the 4th set at a time when Vietnam was trailing by a significant margin, and he determined to "let go" of this set to focus on the decisive set.

What happened afterward showed that the Italian coach was completely right. Returning to the court after being rested, the key players of Vietnam played well and contributed significantly to a 15‑10 victory, thereby helping the Vietnamese men's volleyball team win the match 3‑2 overall to become champions of SEA V.Cup for the first time.

This historic victory had a huge contribution from Ngọc Thuân, the hitter who scored over 30 points. But clearly, Coach Federico Rampazzo's ability to "ignite the fire" and his wise substitution decisions in the 4th set were also extremely important "keys" that helped Vietnamese volleyball make history.

It should be noted that Coach Rampazzo has only worked with Vietnamese volleyball players for about two months. In that extremely short time, he helped the national men's volleyball team achieve consecutive miracles with the historic victory over Indonesia and the championship of this second leg of SEA V.Cup.