Vietnam U23: Is there still room for overseas Vietnamese players?

The influx of overseas Vietnamese players playing in the V-League offers coach Kim Sang Sik many personnel options for the Vietnam U23 team; however, that's just the tip of the iceberg, and the reality is far more complex.

Many new options

The arrival of a host of overseas Vietnamese players in the 2025/26 V-League season promises to bring a breath of fresh air to Vietnamese football. Notably, among those returning to their "ancestral homeland" to play football, there are quite a few very young players.

For example, Do Nguyen Thanh Chung (Chung Nguyen Do), Brando Ly, and Vadim Nguyen are all quite young players and are considered potential options for the Vietnam U23 team and even the Vietnam national team in the future.

Chung Nguyen Do is a Vietnamese-American player who is receiving the highest expectations.

These players, most of whom received their professional football training abroad, possess valuable qualities such as modern tactical thinking, excellent physical fitness, and good discipline.

Therefore, coach Kim Sang Sik will certainly not overlook these talents in upcoming tournaments, such as the U23 Asian Cup qualifiers or the SEA Games taking place later this year.

But is it really that easy?

However, the journey from potential to success is a long one. Viktor Le's performance at the recent U23 Southeast Asian Championship is the clearest example: high expectations were placed on him, but he performed poorly and failed to leave a significant mark.

Even players like Van Lam and Nguyen Filip, when they first returned to Vietnam, showed that despite having good individual skills, adapting to team play and integrating into the team remains a major challenge for Vietnamese players living abroad.

But as seen in the latest case of Viktor Le, although the doors to the national teams are wide open, Vietnamese players living abroad still have to work very hard to be selected by coach Kim Sang Sik.

It's not just about integration; even external factors like the weather are posing numerous challenges for Vietnamese players living abroad. Chung Nguyen Do, for example, despite possessing many technical skills and good tactical awareness, has yet to adapt to playing for Ninh Binh .

Another example is the recent call-up of overseas Vietnamese players by coach Kim Sang Sik to the U23 and U22 teams, such as Bui Alex and Andrej An Khanh, who were unable to stay due to the vast differences in football philosophy, language, and cultural practices within Vietnamese football.

The examples above show that securing a place in the Vietnam U23 team is not solely based on the "label" of being an overseas Vietnamese player or coming from a foreign training environment. To earn a spot, all players must prove themselves superior to their domestic counterparts in terms of playing time and professional ability.

The door is always open, but to step through it, Viktor Le, Chung Nguyen Do, Brando Ly, and Vadim Nguyen need not only professional skills, but also patience, the ability to integrate, and the capacity to prove their worth and live up to the expectations of their fans.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/u23-viet-nam-lieu-con-cho-cho-cac-cau-thu-viet-kieu-2430997.html