The 10-day SEA Games 31 will take place in the northern region of Vietnam as of May 12. 

Competitions of football and some other sports will start about a week earlier.

The Sao la, a rare animal first found in Vietnam in 1992, has been chosen as the official mascot of the 31st Southeast Asian Games.

The sporting event featuring 40 sports with 520 medal events will be held in Hanoi and other 11 provinces and cities including Bac Ninh, Hai Duong, Bac Giang, Haiphong, Quang Ninh, Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Hoa Binh, Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho.

The event was scheduled to take place in November this year, however, it has been postponed until May next year due to the widespread of novel coronavirus.

The Hanoi People’s Committee will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 31st SEA Games with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The Ministry of Finance is responsible for arranging funding for the biggest sports tournament in Southeast Asia.

According to the SEA Games Organizing Committee, it is expected that 70-80% of the population of Southeast Asian would be fully Covid-19 vaccinated by May, 2022. 

The timing of SEA Games 31 would not coincide with that of major games in 2022 such as the Winter Olympics (February 2022), the Asian Martial Arts & Indoor Games (February 22, 2022), Commonwealth Games (July 2022) and Asiad (September 2022).

SEA Games 32 will take place in Phnom Penh from May 5 to 17, 2023.