Tonight (December 26), the Vietnam Golden Ball Gala 2025 will take place in Ho Chi Minh City. The 5 short-listed candidates include: Nguyen Hoang Duc, Nguyen Quang Hai, Tran Trung Kien, Nguyen Dinh Bac and Nguyen Tien Linh. In which, Hoang Duc and Dinh Bac are considered to be 2 names competing for the title of Vietnam Golden Ball 2025.
However, striker Dinh Bac will have to miss the Gala awards ceremony because on the same morning, the striker born in 2004 and the U23 Vietnam team traveled to Qatar to prepare for the 2026 U23 Asian Cup Finals.
According to experts, Dinh Bac is a strong candidate for the title of Vietnam Golden Ball 2025 because of the successes from the club level, the U22, U23 teams and the national teams in the past year, which are superior to the remaining candidates. Most likely, the player from Nghe An will have a "double" title at the Gala tonight.
Not only Dinh Bac, goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien will also not be present. Other names nominated for the title of Best Young Men's Player such as Hieu Minh, Van Thuan... are also on the list of the U23 Vietnam team heading to Qatar, so they will definitely not be present at the Gala tonight.
Coach Kim Sang-sik also did not attend the Gala because he was busy with U23 Vietnam on the mission.
