Losing the top scorer title in... extra time: What did Tien Linh say?

Tien Linh's sadness

"Really sad," striker Nguyen Tien Linh shared on his personal page on the afternoon of June 27, after the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF) announced that the player born in 1997 would not be awarded the title of top scorer. In the comment section, many players and fans also shared Tien Linh's current feelings.

Initially, Tien Linh was recognized as the joint top scorer of V-League with Lucao do Break ( Hai Phong ) and Alan Grafite (CAHN Club). All three strikers had 14 goals.

According to the tournament rules, if two or more players have the same number of goals in the tournament, all will be awarded the title of top scorer.

Mất ngôi vua phá lưới ở... phút bù giờ: Tiến Linh nói gì?- Ảnh 1. — Tien Linh lost the top scorer title

If awarded the title, this will be the first time Tien Linh has won the V-League top scorer title. The last time a domestic player won this title was striker Nguyen Anh Duc in the 2017 season, also for Binh Duong . Xuan Son's 2024 top scorer title does not count for a domestic player, because at the time of winning the award, he did not have Vietnamese nationality.

Binh Duong's goal was an own goal!

After reviewing the video of Hai Phong's 4-2 win over Binh Duong, VPF believes that Binh Duong's goal in the 90+3 minute came from an own goal by defender Tien Dung (Hai Phong), instead of being counted as a goal for Tien Linh.

Therefore, Tien Linh only had 13 goals left, unable to win the top scorer title. This title belonged to the duo Lucao of Hai Phong and Alan of CAHN Club.

VPF still recognizes Tien Linh as the "domestic top scorer". In the announcement, the Organizing Committee said: "After reviewing the tournament's professional data to issue a decision on the season-end statistics, the tournament's organizing committee has official information on the number of goals scored by the teams and players. Accordingly, the statistics on the goals of the players are as follows: striker Alan (number 72, CAHN Club) and striker Goncalves Silva Lucas Vinicius (number 9, Hai Phong Club) with 14 goals scored in V-League 2024 - 2025.

These two players won the title of top scorer in V-League 2024 - 2025. The domestic top scorer belongs to player Nguyen Tien Linh with 13 goals. 1 goal less than the previous statistics because the goal in the 90+3 minute in the match between Binh Duong Club and Hai Phong Club (round 25) was counted as an own goal from the clearance of defender Bui Tien Dung (number 16, Hai Phong Club)", the original announcement of the tournament organizing committee said.