U23 Vietnam players find a place in V-League

Returning after the historic championship at the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 tournament, the Vietnamese U23 players immediately prepared for the 2025/26 season with many opportunities and challenges.

Coach Kim Sang Sik's worries

Like his predecessor Park Hang Seo, Coach Kim Sang Sik has repeatedly expressed his concerns about the current state of the V-League. The Korean strategist frankly said that the fact that teams are using foreign and naturalized players to the maximum extent means that domestic players, especially young ones, have fewer and fewer opportunities to play.

Success at the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 tournament is just the beginning, because ahead of Dinh Bac and his teammates are the 2026 Asian qualifiers, the 33rd SEA Games, or further, realizing the dream of participating in the 2030 World Cup.

Coach Kim Sang Sik affirmed that he always gives young players opportunities to show their talent, but that is not enough for Vietnamese football talents to develop. The important thing is that potential players are trained and learned in the V-League arena - a highly competitive and long-lasting tournament.

Coach Kim Sang Sik hopes that the U23 Vietnam players will be able to compete regularly in the V-League. Photo: VFF

Speaking with VietNamNet, Coach Pham Minh Duc - who has many years of experience in youth training, expressed his opinion: "After the success of U23 Vietnam, I think we must maintain and do better, each person joins hands to contribute to Vietnamese football.

Youth football training centers such as Hanoi, HAGL, PVF, The Cong Viettel , SLNA... all take this as a motivation to train many successor players for the development of Vietnamese football."

According to coach Minh Duc, Vietnam U23 team won the Southeast Asian championship three times in a row, affirming the position and right direction of Vietnamese youth football. However, the ultimate goal is for many U23 players to be called up to the national team, conquering major continental tournaments and the World Cup.

Not many U23 Vietnam players play as starters in V-League

Coach Kim Sang Sik has a very promising generation of U23 players. The Korean strategist has given many young players from the current U23 Vietnam team the chance to join the national team, so it is not surprising that Dinh Bac and his teammates played together cohesively and smoothly at the recent U23 Southeast Asian tournament.

At U23 Vietnam, there are 7 players who have played for the Vietnam national team: Goalkeeper Trung Kien, Pham Ly Duc, Khuat Van Khang, Thai Son, Van Truong, Quoc Viet and Dinh Bac. Of these, 5 were in the starting lineup in the final match against U23 Indonesia.

Khuat Van Khang has worn the national team jersey many times. Photo: Hai Hoang

However, what coach Kim Sang Sik is most concerned about is whether his players will be able to compete regularly in the V-League, after winning the Southeast Asian championship and receiving much praise.

Among the players called up to the Vietnam national team, Trung Kien, Ly Duc, Van Khang and Thai Son are often the main players. The remaining Van Truong, Quoc Viet and Dinh Bac mainly come on as substitutes, and in many matches they even had to "sit and drink water".

With the group of players labeled as national team, Thanh Dat, Minh Phuc, Ngoc My, Anh Quan... do not have many opportunities to play as main players, mainly playing "supporting" roles at the club.

After the success of the 2025 Southeast Asian tournament, the U23 Vietnam players are even more eager to show their talent. Compared to last season, they have received more attention, along with expectations and opportunities.

U23 Vietnam has a generation of potential players. Photo: Hai Hoang

For example, the young face Cong Phuong is being "incubated" by The Cong Viettel for the future, or a series of players are about to participate in the V-League for the first time such as Xuan Bac, Hieu Minh, Thanh Nhan (PVF-CAND), Anh Quan, Quoc Viet ( Ninh Binh ) to learn and compete with their seniors, or Dinh Bac has a bright chance to play in the main team at CAHN when he achieves good form after injury.

Hopefully, the teams in V-League will not ignore youth training in the race for achievements, because this is the sustainable development, the root of every football foundation.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/cau-thu-u23-viet-nam-tim-cho-dung-ov-league-2428053.html