Overseas Vietnamese player Chung Nguyen Do joins Vietnam U23 team for the first time

Coach Kim Sang-sik announced the list of the Vietnam U23 team to prepare for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship Qualifiers. Among the total of 24 players called up, there is the appearance of Chung Nguyen Do (Tran Thanh Trung) - a Vietnamese-American player who has just entered the top 3 Best Young Players of Bulgaria.

Tran Thanh Trung was born in 2005 in Bulgaria, holding dual Vietnamese and Bulgarian citizenship. The 1.75m-tall Vietnamese midfielder, trained at CSKA Sofia, played professionally since 2013 and played for Slavia Sofia's first team in the Bulgarian National Championship before returning home to join Ninh Binh Club in the 2025-2026 V-League.

Before returning to Vietnam to play, Thanh Trung played 31 matches, scored 2 goals and had 1 assist in the 2024-2025 season. With a playing style that focuses on control and defense, Thanh Trung is also in the top 5 young players with the most interceptions in European national leagues (except the top 5 leagues).

The player, whose parents are Vietnamese, is also a familiar face in Bulgaria's youth teams, from U17 to U21, and was highly regarded by Barcelona scouts as one of Europe's promising midfielders.

In this training session, U23 Vietnam will embark on the second important task in 2025, the 2026 U23 Asian Qualifiers, after successfully defending the U23 Southeast Asian Championship. This is also an important preparation step towards the 33rd SEA Games. In order to create stability in the squad and playing style, the core of the U23 Vietnam squad will not have many changes compared to the journey to win the U23 Southeast Asian Championship 2025.

According to the plan, the Vietnam U23 team will gather and practice in Viet Tri ( Phu Tho ) from August 30. In Group C of the 2026 AFC U23 qualifiers, coach Kim Sang-sik and his team will meet U23 Bangladesh (September 3), U23 Singapore (September 6) and U23 Yemen (September 9).

With an increasingly improved force and the appearance of promising players, the U23 Vietnam team promises to continue to bring fans impressive performances in the qualifying round of the continental tournament.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/cau-thu-viet-kieu-chung-nguyen-do-lan-dau-len-tuyen-u23-viet-nam-196250825183417845.htm