Vietnam U23 team gathers: Opportunity for new players

On August 29, the Vietnam U23 team will gather in Hanoi to prepare for the qualifying matches for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship in September 2025. During this gathering, coach Kim Sang-sik has called up a number of notable new players.

Thanh Trung is a very notable face in this U23 Vietnam gathering. Photo: Ninh Binh FC

The 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers are the second most important tournament of the year for coach Kim Sang-sik and his team, after successfully defending the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship.

According to the tournament rules, the 2026 U23 Asian qualifiers have 44 participating teams, divided equally into 11 groups. In the 2026 U23 Asian 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 ).

Each group will compete in a round robin to determine rankings, selecting the 11 group winners and the 4 second-place teams with the best qualifying results, along with the host team, to advance to the final round held in Saudi Arabia.

The goal of the Vietnam U23 team is to win a ticket to the 2026 AFC U23 Championship. In order to create stability in the squad and playing style, the core of the Vietnam U23 squad this time does not have many changes compared to the journey to win the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship. Coach Kim Sang-sik only called up Vietnamese-American midfielder Chung Nguyen Do (Tran Thanh Trung) of Ninh Binh Club, striker Nguyen Thanh Nhan (PVF-CAND) and goalkeeper Nguyen Tan ( Ho Chi Minh City Police).

The list of U23 Vietnam players is mainly the group of players who just won the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship, with familiar names such as Tran Trung Kien, Nguyen Hieu Minh, Nguyen Xuan Bac, Viktor Le and Nguyen Dinh Bac.

The team also welcomed the return of striker Nguyen Thanh Nhan after he recovered from injury. The U23 Vietnam team kept the same main frame to create stability in the squad and playing style, aiming for the 33rd SEA Games.

In the list of 24 players called up, the presence of Tran Thanh Trung attracted much attention. This player born in 2005 in Bulgaria in a Vietnamese family has just entered the top 3 Best Young Players of Bulgaria in the 2024 - 2025 season.

"In this training session, I will check and monitor Tran Thanh Trung more closely. Along with that, the technical team will continue to monitor and search for other Vietnamese players playing abroad" - Coach Kim Sang-sik

After only 2 matches in the 2025-2026 V-League, this Vietnamese-Bulgarian player convinced coach Kim Sang-sik to give him the opportunity to play for the Vietnam U23 team. Before choosing to play for the Vietnam U23 team, Thanh Trung was a familiar face in Bulgaria's youth teams and was highly appreciated by Barcelona scouts for his development potential. This midfielder also played for Bulgaria's youth teams in the U17 Euro 2022 finals and Euro 2023 qualifiers.

Tran 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. Before returning to Vietnam to play 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.

Thanh Trung grew up at CSKA Sofia training center, played for Slavia Sofia's first team before returning to play for Ninh Binh club in V-League 2025 - 2026.

In the Vietnam U23 team, Thanh Trung will have to demonstrate his outstanding ability and class to compete for a spot in the main squad, where there are many talented midfielders such as: Van Truong, Viktor Le, Thai Son, Van Khang, Xuan Bac, Cong Phuong... These are all familiar players and have worked with coach Kim Sang-sik for a long time.

Along with Le Viktor before, Thanh Trung is one of two overseas Vietnamese players present in the U23 Vietnam jersey. Thanh Trung's appearance is expected to bring a new wind to U23 Vietnam.

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).

With a core force rich in experience from the regional championship, along with the addition of promising young faces, U23 Vietnam is expected to continue to bring fans exciting matches in the continental qualifying round.

As part of the preparation plan for the next matches in the 2027 Asian Cup Final Qualifiers, the Vietnam national team will gather again in Hanoi. This is the third gathering of the team in 2025, with the main purpose of reviewing, checking and evaluating the force to prepare for the next matches in the 2027 Asian Cup Final Qualifiers.

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/tuyen-u23-viet-nam-hoi-quan-co-hoi-cho-nhung-nhan-to-moi-2025082715535512.htm