Opportunities for new elements

On August 30, the Vietnam U23 team will join the national team in Hanoi to train, develop tactics, and prepare for the qualifying matches for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship in September 2025.

Ticket to the 2026 AFC U23 Championship

The goal of the U23 Vietnam team is to win a ticket to the final round of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship. Therefore, coach Kim Sang-sik will personally review the squad and evaluate the professional level of each player for the U23 Vietnam squad.

In the 2026 AFC U23 qualifiers, Vietnam was chosen as the host of Group C. In this group, U23 Vietnam will host U23 Bangladesh (September 3), U23 Singapore (September 6) and U23 Yemen (September 9) at Viet Tri Stadium ( Phu Tho ).

According to the tournament rules, the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers will feature 44 teams, divided into 11 groups. Each group will compete in a round robin to determine rankings, selecting the 11 group winners and the 4 second-placed teams with the best qualifying results to advance to the finals. In order to maintain stability in the squad and playing style, the core of the Vietnam U23 squad this time will not have many changes compared to the journey to the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship.

Mr. Kim Sang-sik only added the names of Tran Thanh Trung ( Ninh Binh Club), striker Nguyen Thanh Nhan (PVF-CAND) and goalkeeper Nguyen Tan (Ho Chi Minh City Police). Before returning to Vietnam to compete in the V-League for the first time in his career, Thanh Trung played for Slavia Sofia Club in the Bulgarian National Championship, scoring 2 goals and 1 assist in a total of 31 matches in the 2024-2025 season. His impressive performance helped the midfielder born in 2005 to be voted into the Top 3 list of the best young players in Bulgaria last season.

Cơ hội cho những nhân tố mới- Ảnh 1. — Vietnam U23 will gather on August 30 in Hanoi with the national team, preparing for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers at Viet Tri Stadium (Phu Tho). Photo: VFF

Thanh Trung is 1.75 m tall, plays in the central midfielder position, attacks and defends regularly thanks to his strong physical foundation, flexible movement, sharp reading of the game and modern attacking thinking. Grown from the CSKA Sofia training camp, playing professionally since 2013, this Vietnamese-American player is also a mainstay in the Bulgarian youth teams, from U17 to U21. He was once highly appreciated by Barcelona scouts in the group of promising midfielders in Europe.

However, Thanh Trung will have to show his outstanding ability and class to compete for a place in the main squad of U23 Vietnam. The team currently owns many talented midfielders such as: Van Truong, Viktor Le, Thai Son, Van Khang, Xuan Bac, Cong Phuong...

Personnel testing

At the same time, the Vietnamese team is also gathering to prepare for the FIFA Days in September 2025. According to the competition plan, the national team will participate in the next 3 matches in Group F of the final qualifying round of the AFC Asian Cup 2027, taking place in October and November.

The AFC Asian Cup 2027 regulations stipulate that the 6 teams ranked first in the 6 groups in the final qualifying round will qualify for the finals. After the heavy loss to Malaysia on June 10, the chances of Kim Sang-sik and his team entering the AFC Asian Cup 2027 finals are very low.

To advance, the Vietnamese team needs to win all remaining matches in the group stage and hope Malaysia "stumbles" against their opponents or Mr. Kim's army must surpass this team with a score difference of at least 5 goals in the rematch in March 2026.

In the third training session in 2025, the Vietnamese team will have many "new recruits". Notably, two veteran goalkeepers Nguyen Filip and Dang Van Lam were not called up this time. Instead, coach Kim Sang-sik has rejuvenated the "goalkeeper" position with Quan Van Chuan (Hanoi) and Nguyen Van Viet (The Cong Viettel).

In addition, after impressive performances in round 1 of V.League 2025-2026, defenders Tran Hoang Phuc (Ho Chi Minh City Police), Dinh Quang Kiet (HAGL), midfielder Ly Cong Hoang Anh (Nam Dinh), striker Pham Gia Hung (Ninh Binh) were also given the opportunity to join the national team for the first time under coach Kim.

Players who have just returned from injury such as midfielder Doan Ngoc Tan (Thanh Hoa) and defender Phan Tuan Tai (The Cong Viettel) also participated this time.

During the training period at the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center (Hanoi), the Vietnamese team, led by acting head coach Dinh Hong Vinh, will have two practice matches with Hanoi Police Club (September 4) and Nam Dinh Club (September 7).

On the FIFA rankings, U23 Vietnam is above its opponents in the same group, so it is considered the top candidate for a place in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship.