On the sidelines of the signing ceremony of the sponsorship ceremony of the Vietnam Football Federation to support the U23 team, coach Kim Sang-sik revealed the reason for calling up overseas Vietnamese player Chung Nguyen Do (Tran Thanh Trung).
He said: "During the recent process, I have learned about many aspects of the players and have announced the list of U23 Vietnam. Since the recent Southeast Asian U23 tournament, I have had a successful journey and achieved good results, overcoming difficulties.
Through the tournament, young players will be more confident and eager to qualify for the 2026 U23 Asian Cup. For us to be able to move to Asia, good results are necessary, the players have to try for this.
Before that, the coaching staff and I had met many overseas Vietnamese players and Tran Thanh Trung was one of them. Of course, I will follow him in this training session. In the coming time, I will continue to look for many other players who are abroad".
Chung Nguyen Do's parents are both Vietnamese and live in Bulgaria. He plays for the prestigious team Slavia Sofia, promoted to the first team and competed from the 2022-2023 season when he was only 18 years old.
This midfielder played outstandingly in the Bulgarian national championship and was valued at 12 billion VND. Last season, he played 32 matches for Slavia Sofia before returning to the country to play for Ninh Binh FC.
Regarding the U23 Vietnam team, in addition to Chung Nguyen Do, coach Kim Sang-sik called up 23 other players who are familiar faces such as Trung Kien, Thai Son, Ngoc My, Van Khang, Van Truong, Viktor Le, Minh Phuc, Dinh Bac, Quoc Viet...
In Group C of the 2026 U23 Asian qualifiers, U23 Vietnam will meet U23 Bangladesh (3.9), U23 Singapore (6.9) and U23 Yemen (9.9). The matches took place at Viet Tri Stadium, Phu Tho.
