Vietnam has applied to host the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) in 2021, two year's earlier than had been planned.

Vietnam hosting SEA Games

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has asked Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung  for approval to host the games.

If Dung approves, the Vietnam Olympic Committee (VOC) will be authorised to compile a project on hosting and organising the sporting event.

Vietnam is due to  host the 32nd SEA Games in 2023, but the Cambodian Olympic Committee has proposed to delay its right of hosting the event, handing over the earlier time to Vietnam.

An anonymous official from the VOC said that the Southeast Asian Games Federation would approve plans to host SEA Games event for several countries, including Vietnam, in the near future.

The 28th SEA Games will be held in Singapore this year, the 29th in Malaysia in 2017 and the 30th in Brunei in 2019.

Vietnam first hosted the 22nd SEA Games in 2003 in Hanoi. However, the 31st SEA Games is planned to be mainly organised in stadiums in HCM City. This means Vietnam will have to invest a lot of money to build and upgrade necessary infrastructure.

Last April, Vietnamese authorities decided to withdraw plans to host the 2018 Asian Games (ASIAD 18) due to public outcry over the USD150m funding cost.