The broker has a knack for it.

For three consecutive years, Phạm Văn Trung's "clients," from Nguyễn Xuân Son to Alan Grafite, have received the award for Best Foreign Player in Vietnam.

On the evening of December 26, 2025, Alan Grafite was named the Best Foreign Player of 2025 at the awards ceremony of the Vietnam Golden Ball Award - founded and organized by Saigon Giai Phong Newspaper. This marks the third consecutive year that this title has gone to players connected by the same agent (also known as a player agent or broker), following two consecutive years of the title going to Rafaelson - Nguyen Xuan Son (in 2023 and 2024).

Behind the success of those top foreign players in the V-League is Mr. Pham Van Trung. For three consecutive seasons, the players represented by Mr. Trung have all reached the top of the podium – a rare achievement in Vietnamese football.

Mr. Pham Van Trung (left) receives the award for Best Foreign Player in Vietnam 2025 on behalf of player Alan Grafite from coach Anh Duc. Photo: QUOC AN

Mr. Trung was born and raised in Ho Chi Minh City, rising through the ranks of amateur football and playing for the Ho Chi Minh City Police Football Club (from 1996-1997). He held various jobs but always revolved around football before focusing on his career as a football agent.

Starting out as a representative, he worked with Mr. Tran Tien Dai but returned to coaching, earning C, B, and A licenses from the Asian Football Confederation, along with a fitness coach certificate, before working as an assistant coach at Saigon Xuan Thanh, Thanh Nien Saigon, and Ninh Thuan clubs.

After a period dedicated to coaching, he returned to the football agent profession thanks to a chance encounter during an amateur football match. Following that introduction on the field, in 2014, he and a few friends founded a company representing many foreign players. Since then, many prominent foreign strikers have been introduced and played in Vietnam, notably Xuan Son, Do Hoang Hen, Leo Artur, Alan Grafite, and others.

Looking back at the foreign players introduced over the past three years, Mr. Trung said that center forwards have always been the top priority when introducing players to teams. "The striker is the spearhead, the final finishing touch of the team. When a team is strong and has a good supporting system, the ball will flow to the center forward, and good team performance will lead to good individual performance."

Xuan Son is the clearest example, having won the top scorer title, the V-League championship, and then set scoring records in Vietnam and Asia. This was not a coincidence, but the result of a smoothly functioning football ecosystem, with many good supporting players revolving around him during the season when Nam Dinh Club won the championship.

Speaking about the work of an agent, Mr. Trung shared the "unnamed tasks": not only handling professional matters but also taking care of the player's daily life, even supporting them when their wives give birth. The agent is also the one who untangles invisible knots: caring for the player's psychology, life, family, and future.

Mr. Trung said that when Xuan Son came to Vietnam, he was only 23 years old, accompanied by his wife, with no relatives by his side. When his wife was about to give birth, Xuan Son still had to play with a packed schedule, constantly traveling to different venues, so the psychological pressure was immense. His agent also had to arrange hospital appointments, find someone to care for the expectant mother, and plan the birth so the player could focus on playing.

Similarly, the case of Do Hoang Hen is noteworthy. Hendrio Araújo da Silva (born in 1994), also known as Do Hoang Hen after becoming a naturalized citizen, is a Brazilian midfielder currently playing for Hanoi FC. Hendrio is a vegetarian, which raised concerns among coaches about his fitness when he first arrived in Vietnam. However, thanks to the dedicated support of Mr. Trung and his colleagues, Hoang Hen has never missed a training session and consistently ranks among the club's top players in terms of fitness.

In recent years, Indonesia has emerged as a new force in Southeast Asia with its Dutch-influenced squad. Vietnam has also chosen players of Vietnamese origin or selectively naturalized players, such as Cao Quang Vinh Pendant, Filip Nguyen, Xuan Son, and Hoang Hen... Sharing his thoughts on this trend, Mr. Trung commented that foreign players or naturalized players are not a challenge or a threat to the careers of domestic players; on the contrary, they are role models for young players to learn from. If young players have the opportunity to play and train alongside skilled foreign players, they will improve quickly.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/ong-co-mat-tay-19626010320074089.htm