Waiting for Viktor Le to explode

With outstanding attacking ability, Viktor Le is a player worth watching for U22 Vietnam at the upcoming 33rd SEA Games in Thailand.

Viktor Le is a rare case of overseas Vietnamese in U22 Vietnam - Photo: NVCC

With U22 Vietnam winning the 2025 Southeast Asian Championship and earning a ticket to the 2026 U23 Asia Championship, plus playing in the recent Panda Cup 2025 friendly tournament in China, Viktor Le is very likely to attend the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand.

Pride of overseas Vietnamese

If selected in the list of 23 players attending the 33rd SEA Games (already on the preliminary list), Viktor Le will be the first Vietnamese-American player from Vietnam to attend the SEA Games since 2015.

The last time Vietnamese football had an overseas Vietnamese player participating in the SEA Games was at the 29th regional sports festival in 2015 in Singapore, when Mac Hong Quan was named by coach Toshiya Miura in the U23 Vietnam roster.

In Singapore that year, Mac Hong Quan was given the responsibility of playing as a striker. Although he brought many emotions to the fans when he scored 4 goals, Hong Quan could not help U23 Vietnam win the gold medal.

In the following three SEA Games, U22 Vietnam lacked any overseas Vietnamese players. Many overseas Vietnamese players came to try their hand but none of them lasted. Meanwhile, U22 Vietnam still won 2 gold medals at SEA Games 30 and 31, 1 bronze medal at SEA Games 32 without any contribution from overseas Vietnamese players.

Expectations for Viktor Le

Viktor Le was born in 2003 in Russia, with a Vietnamese father and a Russian mother. He was trained at CSKA Moscow with Dang Van Lam, and returned to Vietnam in 2023 when he was only 20 years old.

Over the past 3 years, Viktor Le has been a regular presence in the V-League and has gone through many competitions for positions in the Binh Dinh and Ha Tinh teams. Having an official position in the highest professional tournament in Vietnam shows that Viktor's football skills are not inferior to any domestic player in the U22 Vietnam team.

In the 2024 - 2025 season, Viktor Le scored 3 goals and 3 assists in 24 matches, helping Ha Tinh finish in the top 5 of the V-League. This season, the Vietnamese-American player has scored 2 goals and had 2 assists in 11 regular matches.

His playing time and contributions to the club in V-League are much more than some of his colleagues playing in the U22 Vietnam attack line such as Nguyen Cong Phuong (The Cong - Viettel ), Bui Vi Hao (Becamex TP.HCM) or Nguyen Quoc Viet, Nguyen Le Phat (Ninh Binh).

Therefore, Viktor's presence in U22 Vietnam is worthy. In 2025, when U22 Vietnam goes through many important campaigns to select players for SEA Games 33, many overseas Vietnamese players have joined the U22 Vietnam team and then returned, only Viktor Le remains.

Viktor not only plays regularly but also competes with many domestic players to get a starting position. He is now a key attacking option with his dribbling ability, accurate passing and diverse finishing tendencies.

Not only is Viktor Le a hope for U22 Vietnam at SEA Games 33 and U23 Asia 2026, he is also a source of inspiration for overseas Vietnamese.

Impressive statistics

In March, Viktor Le started all 3 matches, assisting 1 goal for U23 Vietnam at the CFA Team China tournament. In July, the Vietnamese-Russian player played all 4 matches in the journey of U23 Vietnam to win the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship.

In September, Viktor scored 1 goal in 2 out of 3 matches in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers, helping Vietnam U23 win a ticket to the Asian Cup. In October, Viktor also played in both friendly matches against Qatar. In November, this player played in 2 out of 3 matches in the 2025 Panda Cup - where Vietnam U22 faced continental teams Uzbekistan and South Korea.

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NGOC LE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/cho-viktor-le-bung-no-20251124083735461.htm