How do eight overseas Vietnamese U22 players play in V-League?

cầu thủ Việt kiều - Ảnh 1. — Williams Lee (right, Ho Chi Minh City Police) in the comeback loss to Ninh Binh - Photo: NK

In addition to overseas Vietnamese players who have Vietnamese nationality, V-League 2025-2026 allows each participating club to register 2 overseas Vietnamese players who do not have nationality. However, not many clubs take advantage of overseas Vietnamese players to strengthen their team.

Hanoi Police Club is the team with the most overseas Vietnamese players with 4 players: goalkeeper Nguyen Filip, left-back Cao Pendant Quang Vinh, center-back Adou Minh and midfielder Brandon Ly.

The Cong - Viettel Club ranked 2nd with 3 players: center back Colonna Kyle, midfielder Damian Vu Thanh An and Duong Thanh Tung.

U22 player's mark

There are a total of 8 overseas Vietnamese U22 players playing in the V-League 2025-2026. Among them, Viktor Le (Russia) and Damoth Thongkhamsavath (Laos) have been playing since last season. The remaining 6 are brand new names. And not everyone has the opportunity to play in the highest league in Vietnam.

Viktor Le played all 11 matches, scoring 2 goals for Hong Linh Ha Tinh Club. He is a mainstay of the U22 Vietnam team preparing for the 33rd SEA Games in Thailand next month. Similarly, Damoth Thongkhamsavath, although only playing 6 matches (3 as a starter) for Thanh Hoa Club, is also the key midfielder of the U22 Laos team at the 33rd SEA Games.

Tám cầu thủ Việt kiều U22 thi đấu thế nào ở V-League? - Ảnh 2. — Despite his injury, Tran Thanh Trung (left) still tried his best to play for Ninh Binh Club in the match against Ho Chi Minh City Police - Photo: NK

Struggling to adapt to the weather in Vietnam, the most expensive overseas Vietnamese player in V-League, Tran Thanh Trung (Bulgariai), has also played 8 matches (3 starting) for Ninh Binh Club.

The 20-year-old midfielder made his debut for Ninh Binh Club in the opening match of V-League 2025-2026 when he came on as a substitute in the 77th minute against host Hong Linh Ha Tinh on August 17.

In round 8, Thanh Trung started for the first time against host PVF-CAND and immediately assisted Dos Anjos to score, raising the score to 2-1 in Ninh Binh Club's 3-1 victory.

Thanh Trung continued to start against Becamex TP.HCM (round 9), sat out the match against Song Lam Nghe An (round 10) due to a torn shin injury and "bite the bullet" to start against Cong An TP.HCM (round 11) despite not having recovered from his injury due to the team being short of players.

Injury prevents Thanh Trung from joining the Vietnam U22 team to participate in the 2025 CFA Panda Cup International U22 Tournament in China to prepare for the 33rd SEA Games.

The opposite fate of the U22 Vietnamese-American players

Unlike Thanh Trung, his teammate at Ninh Binh Club - left-back Arban Evan Alex Guillaume has almost disappeared. This 20-year-old French-Vietnamese player only came on the field as a substitute in the 73rd minute of the 3-1 win over host SHB Da Nang in round 3.

cầu thủ Việt kiều - Ảnh 3. — Damian Vu Thanh An (right, The Cong - Viettel) in the first starting match against PVF-CAND in round 11 - Photo: VPF

The second most played player among the new recruits is Vietnamese-British player Williams Lee Oliver Grant - an 18-year-old striker currently playing for the Ho Chi Minh City Police Club under a loan contract from The Cong - Viettel Club.

Williams Lee is 1m90 tall, has played 5 matches (4 starts) and just scored his first goal in the match where Cong An TP.HCM lost 3-4 to Ninh Binh at Thong Nhat Stadium in round 11. He is gradually integrating well and showing that he can play even better.

Although not playing much, Vietnamese-Polish player Damian Vu Thanh An still had 3 appearances (1 starting) for The Cong - Viettel Club.

The 22-year-old midfielder scored for the army team in his debut match, a 3-0 win over Ho Chi Minh City Police in round 2, one minute after coming on as a substitute in the 81st minute.

Tám cầu thủ Việt kiều U22 thi đấu thế nào ở V-League? - Ảnh 4. — Brandon Ly on the training ground of Hanoi Police Club - Photo: CAHN FC

Damian Vu Thanh An continued to come on as a substitute in the 78th minute of the match against Becamex TP.HCM in round 3, then had to wait until round 11 to make his first start for The Cong - Viettel Club against PVF-CAND.

Meanwhile, midfielder Vadim Nguyen (20 years old) has only played 6 substitute matches for SHB Da Nang Club. In which, the 3 matches Vadim Nguyen played the most were with Song Lam Nghe An (34 minutes, round 9), PVF-CAND (31 minutes, round 4) and Hanoi (28 minutes, round 6).

Not having many opportunities to play football and prove himself has prevented Vadim Nguyen from being called up by coach Kim Sang Sik to the Vietnam U22 team to participate in the 2025 Panda Cup in China.

And finally, the most regrettable is Brandon Ly (Iceland) - a Vietnamese-American player who played for English youth teams such as U18 Sheffield United and U21 Burnley.

Although he was highly expected to join the Hanoi Police Club, this 20-year-old defensive midfielder has only played 4 minutes so far. He came on as a substitute for Le Pham Thanh Long in the 4-2 win over Hanoi in the third round on August 28.