Coach Kim Sang-sik returns to Hanoi today, U.23 Vietnam gathers on August 29

V-League 2025-2026 kicks off with a lot of drama. If the tournament continues to be attractive and competitive in the upcoming rounds, the national team and U.23 Vietnam will benefit.

After winning the U.23 Southeast Asian Championship with the Vietnam U.23 team, coach Kim Sang-sik returned to Korea for a vacation and to visit his family. This afternoon (August 21), he arrived in Hanoi to continue working with Vietnamese football. He is expected to attend two matches of the second round of the V-League and will join the Vietnam U.23 team on August 29 to prepare for the U.23 Asian qualifiers in September.

V-League starts promisingly, coach Kim Sang-sik is excited

This season's V-League has many strong teams, the championship candidates include Hanoi Police Club (CAHN), The Cong Viettel, Hanoi FC, Nam Dinh , Ninh Binh. These are all teams with large investments, strong squads, and many national and U.23 national players. The unknowns include Ho Chi Minh City Police Club (CA), Thanh Hoa, and Becamex Ho Chi Minh City Club. These teams are not lacking in stars, it's just that their squads are not as thick as the top candidates.

V-League 2025-2026 has a dramatic start

Photo: HCM City Police Club

Right in the opening round of V-League 2025-2026, two strong championship candidates, CAHN Club and The Cong Viettel, faced each other and were undecided. Meanwhile, another candidate, Hanoi FC, suffered the first surprise of the season against the unknown CA TP.HCM Club. These were all very exciting matches, with many beautiful goals, promising to open up a fiercely competitive tournament between strong teams with great aspirations.

Normally, in football around the world, the more attractive and competitive the domestic tournament is, the more opportunities there are for the quality of national players and national teams to improve. The reason comes from the fact that when the quality of the domestic tournament increases, the matches are attractive, the players who experience these matches will be better trained in a competitive environment, and the qualities of each player will also increase.

Fans are expecting that to come to the national team and national U.23 players, through the 2025-2026 V-League.

Premise for Vietnamese teams to develop better

In 2025, the Vietnam U.23 team still has two very important tasks including the 2026 U.23 Asian qualifiers (from September 3 to 9) and the 33rd SEA Games (in December). Before participating in the above tournaments, Dinh Bac, Ly Duc (CAHN Club), Van Truong, Van Ha (Hanoi FC), Khuat Van Khang, Cong Phuong (The Cong Viettel) ... will mature further, thanks to participating in matches in the V-League.

Surprise appeared early in the first round

Photo: Minh Tran

Not to mention, through the V-League, the U.23 Vietnam team can discover more potential Vietnamese players in their age group, such as the group of midfielders Tran Thanh Trung (20 years old, Ninh Binh), Brandon Ly (20 years old, CAHN Club), Nguyen Vadim (20 years old, SHB Da Nang)... to supplement the force attending the 33rd SEA Games.

The same is true for the national team. In 2025, coach Kim Sang-sik's team has three more matches in the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers, against Nepal on October 9 and 14, and against Laos on November 18. These matches will be an opportunity for coach Kim Sang-sik to test the squad, including testing the Vietnamese-American players who are currently being mentioned quite a lot, such as Adou Minh (CAHN Club), Kevin Pham Ba (Nam Dinh), goalkeeper Patrik Le Giang (CA TP.HCM Club)...

If these players complete the naturalization procedures before the Vietnam national team's international matches, they may have the opportunity to wear the national team's jersey. And the 2025-2026 V-League will be a place to assess their quality, as well as help them have the opportunity to take off, reach new milestones in their careers, and contribute to the Vietnam national team!

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hlv-kim-sang-sik-quay-lai-ha-noi-hom-nay-u23-viet-nam-hoi-quan-ngay-298-185250819141300151.htm