New overseas Vietnamese recruit called up to Vietnam U23 team

This afternoon (August 25), Coach Kim Sang Sik announced the list of 24 players, preparing for the 2026 U23 Asian qualifiers.

Mr. Kim's list notably includes two Vietnamese-American players, midfielders Viktor Le (Russian Vietnamese) and Tran Thanh Trung (Bulgarian Vietnamese). Among them, Tran Thanh Trung is playing for the U23 Vietnam team for the first time.

Tân binh Việt kiều được gọi lên đội tuyển U23 Việt Nam - 1 — U23 Vietnam prepares to enter the Asian qualifiers (Photo: VFF).

The remaining members of the U23 Vietnam team include the core players who just won the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship, which took place in July: Goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien, central defenders Pham Ly Duc, Nguyen Hieu Minh, midfielders Van Truong, Van Khang, Cong Phuong, strikers Dinh Bac, Quoc Viet all appeared.

These players are playing in the V-League, so their performance is at a high level. Dinh Bac also appeared in the 2025-2026 Southeast Asian Cup C1, with the Hanoi Police Club (CAHN), so Dinh Bac is one of the players with the best performance of the current Vietnam U23 team.

Goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien has just played very well in the second round of V-League, helping HAGL Club stand firm against Hanoi FC. Tran Trung Kien will be a solid support for the U23 Vietnam team, in the position of guarding the goal.

In the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers, the Vietnam U23 team is in Group C with the Yemen, Singapore and Bangladesh U23 teams. Group C of the qualifiers will take place in Viet Tri ( Phu Tho ).

According to the plan, the Vietnam U23 team will gather in Viet Tri from August 30, right after round 3 of V-League 2025-2026. The goal of the Vietnam U23 team is to win the right to enter the final round of this tournament.

The group winners and the four best runners-up from the qualifying round (11 groups in total) will qualify for the finals, which will take place early next year in Saudi Arabia.