{"id":4398,"date":"2026-07-05T18:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T09:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=4398"},"modified":"2026-09-28T19:49:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T10:49:25","slug":"vietnam-superstar-cup","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/vietnam-superstar-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Beginners to the National Finals in 9 Months \u2014 Vietnam's Blueprint for a Development League"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u30c0\u30ca\u30f3\u3067\u30d1\u30c9\u30eb\u3092\u63e1\u3063\u3066\u534a\u5e74\u306e\u521d\u5fc3\u8005\u304c\u30019\u30ab\u6708\u5f8c\u306b\u5168\u56fd\u6c7a\u52dd\u306e\u821e\u53f0\u306b\u7acb\u3064\u2014\u2014\u3002\u30d9\u30c8\u30ca\u30e0\u3067\u59cb\u52d5\u3057\u305f\u300cRoad to the Superstar Cup\u300d\u306f\u3001\u3053\u306e\u9053\u7b4b\u3092\u5236\u5ea6\u3068\u3057\u3066\u63cf\u3044\u305f\u5168\u56fd\u898f\u6a21\u306e\u80b2\u6210\u30ea\u30fc\u30b0\u69cb\u60f3\u3067\u3059\u3002\u30ed\u30fc\u30ab\u30eb96\u5927\u4f1a\u304b\u3089\u5168\u56fd\u6c7a\u52dd\u307e\u3067\u3092\u4e00\u672c\u306e\u30e9\u30f3\u30ad\u30f3\u30b0\u3067\u3064\u306a\u304e\u3001\u521d\u5fc3\u8005\u306b\u300c\u6b21\u304c\u3042\u308b\u300d\u3068\u3044\u3046\u6642\u9593\u8ef8\u3092\u4e0e\u3048\u308b\u4e09\u5c64\u69cb\u9020\u304c\u7279\u5fb4\u3067\u3059\u3002\u30a2\u30b8\u30a2\u306e\u30d4\u30c3\u30af\u30eb\u30dc\u30fc\u30eb\u5c02\u9580\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2pickle.asia\u306f6\u670830\u65e5\u4ed8\u306e\u8a18\u4e8b\u3067\u3053\u306e\u4ed5\u7d44\u307f\u3092\u300c\u30a2\u30b8\u30a2\u306e\u30d6\u30eb\u30fc\u30d7\u30ea\u30f3\u30c8\uff08\u8a2d\u8a08\u56f3\uff09\u306b\u306a\u308a\u5f97\u308b\u300d\u3068\u8a55\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f\u3002<\/p>\n<h2>96 tournaments, 12 regional championships, one national final \u2014 every number is a pre-launch target<\/h2>\n<p>The pillar of the concept is the \"Pickleball Superstar\" program, whose flagship event at the top is \"SuperstarCup 2026,\" with the whole series leading up to it named \"Road to the Superstar Cup.\" Over a nine-month campaign, 96 local tournaments (talent discovery rounds) run nationwide, 12 regional championships take the winners on from there, and everything converges on a single national grand final: a three-tier structure.<\/p>\n<p>For the season, the organizers have put forward figures of more than 27,000 total player entries, over 5,000 pieces of social and digital content, and reach exceeding 600 million views across platforms. What matters here is that the tournament count of 96 events and 12 regional championships, and the scale of 27,000 entries and 600 million views, are all<strong>targets and projections announced by PCL (the Vietnamese organizer) before the season began<\/strong>. They are not results that have been achieved. Even so, a grassroots series that starts out by publishing KPIs covering not only participant numbers but exposure targets is rare inside or outside this sport, and it gives some measure of how deeply the series has been designed as a commercial property.<\/p>\n<h2>PSR rankings and Golden Tickets \u2014 building advancement into the system<\/h2>\n<p>The core of this series is the ranking system rather than the individual tournaments. Players enter multiple events across the season and accumulate their results in<strong>PSR\uff08Pickleball Superstar Ranking\uff09<\/strong>. Until now, tournament play in pickleball has been dominated by the \"weekend warrior\" pattern: enter a one-off event on a weekend and live or die by that day's result. PSR adds a time axis \u2014 keep stacking results and there is a next step \u2014 and pickle.asia reads this as a shift toward the staged development model established in soccer, tennis and golf.<\/p>\n<p>The advancement mechanism is equally clear. According to the organizer's tournament regulations, players who finish first or second in each category of the talent discovery round receive a \"Golden Ticket\" to the next stage. Because the conditions for moving from local events to regional championships and on to the national final are spelled out in advance, even an unknown player in the provinces can see exactly where they stand and what the next target is.<\/p>\n<p>On top of that, the men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles of the Pickleball Champions League (PCL), the team competition already staged across Asia, are folded into the SuperstarCup 2026 framework, with points contested through the season. Bundling two motivations, advancing as an individual and the pride of representing a team, inside the same system is what sets it apart.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<th>Stage<\/th>\n<th>Name<\/th>\n<th>Role and advancement conditions<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Tier 1<\/td>\n<td>Talent discovery round (96 local events, organizer target)<\/td>\n<td>Held at community level nationwide. First and second place in each category earn a Golden Ticket<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Tier 2<\/td>\n<td>Regional championships (12 events, organizer target)<\/td>\n<td>Qualifiers from the local events compete to decide the regional representatives<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Tier 3<\/td>\n<td>SuperstarCup 2026 (national grand final)<\/td>\n<td>The domestic summit, where the regional winners gather. PCL team events are folded in as well<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<h2>\"One of the most ambitious grassroots systems\" \u2014 how Vietnam and the industry see it<\/h2>\n<p>Here is how the plan has been received, in the words left in the sources. pickle.asia framed the series as \"one of the most ambitious grassroots systems pickleball has ever built.\"<\/p>\n<p>The same article adds that \"many sports build pathways for elite players, but few have built a system that makes the everyday player believe they can become elite.\" The novelty, on this reading, lies in aiming the system at unknown enthusiasts rather than top players.<\/p>\n<p>On its official site, organizer Pickleball Superstar describes the philosophy of the series as \"discovering and developing talent from communities across Vietnam through a systematic, transparent and continuous competitive structure\" and \"a journey from local courts and grassroots clubs to the biggest stage in the country.\"<\/p>\n<p>In its conclusion, pickle.asia writes that \"the future of this sport in Asia will not be decided by pro tours and glamorous finals alone. It will also be shaped by the structures that help everyday players find the game, improve, and dream beyond their local court,\" closing with the view that the series could become a model for emerging countries in Asia trying to connect beginners to competition, competition to rankings, and rankings to a shot at the top.<\/p>\n<h2>What Japan, awash in one-off tournaments, lacks: a match that leads somewhere<\/h2>\n<p>\u7ffb\u3063\u3066\u65e5\u672c\u306e\u73fe\u72b6\u3092\u898b\u308b\u3068\u3001\u56fd\u5185\u3067\u306f\u5e38\u8a2d\u30b3\u30fc\u30c8\u306e\u958b\u696d\u3084\u4f01\u696d\u53c2\u5165\u304c\u76f8\u6b21\u304e\u3001\u4e16\u754c\u6700\u9ad8\u5cf0\u30c4\u30a2\u30fc\u306e\u6771\u4eac\u30aa\u30fc\u30d7\u30f3\u304c\u7acb\u5ddd\u3067\u958b\u50ac\u3055\u308c\u308b\u306a\u3069\u3001\u9802\u70b9\u5074\u306e\u821e\u53f0\u306f\u6025\u901f\u306b\u6574\u3044\u3064\u3064\u3042\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002<a href=\"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/tokyo-open-teens\/\">The teenage challengers who showed up at the Tokyo Open, and Japan's junior development problem<\/a>, young talent is starting to emerge too. Both ends, the base and the summit, are steadily getting thicker.<\/p>\n<p>\u305f\u3060\u3057\u3001\u6b20\u3051\u3066\u3044\u308b\u306e\u306f\u4e21\u7aef\u3092\u3064\u306a\u3050\u4e2d\u9593\u306e\u5c0e\u7dda\u3067\u3059\u3002\u56fd\u5185\u306e\u8349\u306e\u6839\u5927\u4f1a\u306e\u591a\u304f\u306f\u4e3b\u50ac\u8005\u3054\u3068\u306b\u5358\u767a\u3067\u5b8c\u7d50\u3057\u3001\u305d\u3053\u3067\u51fa\u3057\u305f\u6210\u7e3e\u304c\u5225\u306e\u5927\u4f1a\u3084\u4e0a\u4f4d\u306e\u821e\u53f0\u3078\u516c\u5f0f\u306b\u3064\u306a\u304c\u308b\u4ed5\u7d44\u307f\u304c\u6574\u3063\u3066\u3044\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u512a\u52dd\u3057\u3066\u5f97\u3089\u308c\u308b\u306e\u306f\u8cde\u54c1\u3068\u305d\u306e\u65e5\u306e\u9054\u6210\u611f\u3067\u3001\u300c\u6b21\u306f\u3069\u3053\u3078\u6311\u6226\u3059\u308c\u3070\u3044\u3044\u306e\u304b\u300d\u306f\u9078\u624b\u306e\u81ea\u52a9\u52aa\u529b\u3068\u60c5\u5831\u53ce\u96c6\u529b\u306b\u59d4\u306d\u3089\u308c\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\u30b8\u30e5\u30cb\u30a2\u304c\u4e16\u754c\u30ec\u30d9\u30eb\u306e\u76f8\u624b\u3068\u6226\u3063\u3066\u8ab2\u984c\u3092\u6301\u3061\u5e30\u3063\u3066\u3082\u3001\u305d\u308c\u3092\u53d7\u3051\u6b62\u3081\u3066\u6b21\u306e\u5b9f\u6226\u3078\u6a4b\u6e21\u3057\u3059\u308b\u56fd\u5185\u306e\u968e\u6bb5\u304c\u7d30\u3044\u307e\u307e\u3067\u306f\u3001\u624d\u80fd\u306f\u5076\u7136\u306b\u3057\u304b\u80b2\u3061\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002\u30d9\u30c8\u30ca\u30e0\u306e\u69cb\u60f3\u304c\u523a\u3055\u308b\u306e\u306f\u3001\u3053\u306e\u300c\u968e\u6bb5\u306e\u5236\u5ea6\u5316\u300d\u3092\u8349\u306e\u6839\u306e\u5074\u304b\u3089\u59cb\u3081\u305f\u70b9\u306b\u3042\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002<\/p>\n<p>Another thing not to overlook is the relationship between pathway design and sponsor money. In Vietnam,<a href=\"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/bank-family-cup\/\">a bank filled the courts with 700 employees and their families for a staff benefit tournament<\/a>, that is how close companies and the sport are, and further up<a href=\"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/mb-bank-hcmc\/\">a military-affiliated bank has taken the title sponsorship of a pro tour<\/a>. Corporate involvement, in other words, has its own staircase that reaches all the way to investment at the summit. When the system runs unbroken from the grassroots to the national final, a company can pick its rung according to budget, from a banner at a local event to the title of the national final. The pathway is not only for players; it is also a shelf on which sponsors buy a story. A nine-month, 96-event framework reads as an attempt to extend that shelf nationwide in one go.<\/p>\n<p>\u65e5\u672c\u306e\u5927\u4f1a\u4e3b\u50ac\u8005\u3084\u65bd\u8a2d\u904b\u55b6\u8005\u304c\u3053\u3053\u304b\u3089\u5b66\u3079\u308b\u70b9\u306f\u3001\u300c\u5168\u56fd\u7d44\u7e54\u306e\u53f7\u4ee4\u3092\u5f85\u305f\u306a\u304f\u3066\u3082\u5c0e\u7dda\u306f\u4f5c\u308c\u308b\u300d\u3068\u3044\u3046\u5b9f\u884c\u53ef\u80fd\u6027\u3067\u3059\u3002\u305f\u3068\u3048\u3070\u540c\u4e00\u30a8\u30ea\u30a2\u306e\u8907\u6570\u65bd\u8a2d\u304c\u5171\u901a\u30dd\u30a4\u30f3\u30c8\u5236\u3092\u6577\u304d\u3001\u56db\u534a\u671f\u3054\u3068\u306b\u4e0a\u4f4d\u8005\u3092\u96c6\u3081\u305f\u5730\u57df\u6c7a\u52dd\u3092\u958b\u304f\u3060\u3051\u3067\u3082\u3001\u53c2\u52a0\u8005\u306b\u306f\u300c\u7a4d\u307f\u4e0a\u3052\u308b\u7406\u7531\u300d\u304c\u751f\u307e\u308c\u307e\u3059\u3002\u30ea\u30d4\u30fc\u30c8\u53c2\u52a0\u304c\u8a08\u7b97\u3067\u304d\u308b\u3088\u3046\u306b\u306a\u308c\u3070\u3001\u5e73\u65e5\u591c\u3084\u9591\u6563\u671f\u306e\u7a3c\u50cd\u5e73\u6e96\u5316\u306b\u3082\u3001\u5730\u5143\u4f01\u696d\u3078\u306e\u30b9\u30dd\u30f3\u30b5\u30fc\u55b6\u696d\u306e\u6750\u6599\u306b\u3082\u76f4\u7d50\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002\u30d9\u30c8\u30ca\u30e0\u306e\u5b9f\u9a13\u306f\u3001\u898f\u6a21\u3053\u305d\u6841\u9055\u3044\u3067\u3059\u304c\u3001\u539f\u7406\u306f\u65bd\u8a2d2\u301c3\u8ed2\u306e\u9023\u643a\u304b\u3089\u3067\u3082\u518d\u73fe\u53ef\u80fd\u3067\u3059\u3002<\/p>\n<h2>Road to the Superstar Cup at a glance, and what to watch<\/h2>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<th>Item<\/th>\n<th>Details<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Series name<\/td>\n<td>Road to the Superstar Cup (program name: Pickleball Superstar)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Pinnacle event<\/td>\n<td>SuperstarCup 2026 (national grand final)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Period<\/td>\n<td>Nine-month season format<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Structure<\/td>\n<td>96 local events \u2192 12 regional championships \u2192 1 national final (event counts are organizer targets)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Advancement criteria<\/td>\n<td>First and second in each category receive a \"Golden Ticket\" to the next stage<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Rankings<\/td>\n<td>Season results accumulate in the PSR (Pickleball Superstar Ranking)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Team competition<\/td>\n<td>Pickleball Champions League (men's, women's and mixed doubles) folded in<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Organizer targets<\/td>\n<td>More than 27,000 total entries and reach of over 600 million views (both pre-season projections)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>What to watch from here comes down to how close the stated targets get to actual numbers. Will all 96 events be held as planned? Will participation reach 27,000? And will an unknown newcomer really climb from the top of the PSR to the national final? The gap between targets and results is itself part of what makes this experiment worth watching.<\/p>\n<h2>Takeaway \u2014 a pathway is cheaper to build than a court<\/h2>\n<p>Vietnam's \"Zero to Hero\" plan is an investment in a system, not in facilities or prize money. Design on paper alone, a ranking and a set of qualifying conditions, hands beginners nine months of goals and offers sponsors a tiered investment menu. That idea is worth trying first in Japan precisely because Japan trails the United States and Vietnam on court numbers. If you run tournaments, the first step is adding one line to the next set of regulations: top finishers advance to this event. If you run a facility, you can start by testing a shared ranking with the venues nearby. We will track the actual numbers through to the SuperstarCup 2026 national final and report back on how they compare with the targets.<\/p>\n<h2>Sources<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pickle.asia\/blogs\/vietnam-s-zero-to-hero-plan-could-be-asia-s-pickleball-blueprint\">Vietnam&#8217;s Zero to Hero plan could be Asia&#8217;s pickleball blueprint (pickle.asia, June 30, 2026)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pickleballsuperstar.vn\/\">Pickleball Superstar official site (series philosophy and tournament regulations)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/baseline.vn\/tournaments\/2bd2da71-58d6-45e6-9d92-949a9f5aeb1d\">\u0110\u01af\u1edcNG \u0110\u1ebeN SUPERSTARS CUP &#8211; V\u00d2NG T\u00ccM KI\u1ebeM T\u00c0I N\u0102NG (Baseline tournament page)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u30c0\u30ca\u30f3\u3067\u30d1\u30c9\u30eb\u3092\u63e1\u3063\u3066\u534a\u5e74\u306e\u521d\u5fc3\u8005\u304c\u30019\u30ab\u6708\u5f8c\u306b\u5168\u56fd\u6c7a\u52dd\u306e\u821e\u53f0\u306b\u7acb\u3064\u2014\u2014\u3002\u30d9\u30c8\u30ca\u30e0\u3067\u59cb\u52d5\u3057\u305f\u300cRoad to  [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ssp_meta_description":"\u30d9\u30c8\u30ca\u30e0\u3067\u59cb\u52d5\u3057\u305f\u80b2\u6210\u30ea\u30fc\u30b0\u69cb\u60f3\u300cRoad to the Superstar Cup\u300d\u3092\u89e3\u8aac\u300296\u5927\u4f1a\u219212\u5730\u57df\u9078\u624b\u6a29\u2192\u5168\u56fd\u6c7a\u52dd\u306e\u4e09\u5c64\u8a2d\u8a08\u3068PSR\u30e9\u30f3\u30ad\u30f3\u30b0\u3092\u8aad\u307f\u3001\u5358\u767a\u5927\u4f1a\u304c\u4e71\u7acb\u3059\u308b\u65e5\u672c\u3078\u306e\u793a\u5506\u3092\u8003\u5bdf\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002","swell_btn_cv_data":"","pt_pr_sponsor":""},"categories":[93,11,32],"tags":[3053,3052,14,3051,3050],"region":[],"class_list":["post-4398","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","category-news","category-vietnam","category-tournament-info","tag-pcl","tag-superstar-cup","tag-vietnam","tag-3051","tag-3050"],"acf":{"summary":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/4398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4398"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=4398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}