Vietnam U23 start rebuild for SEA Games 34 at Gia Lai four-team tournament

Vietnam's under-23 team are preparing for the Gia Lai Cup, a four-team international tournament in Pleiku in November, with a squad full of new faces. Thanh Niên describes the event as the first real chance to build a new spine for the two big assignments of 2027: the men's football tournament at SEA Games 34 and the qualifiers for the 2028 U23 Asian Cup. All three opponents are strong sides: Qatar, Thailand and Singapore at under-23 level. The tournament is shown live on FPT Play, which holds the broadcast rights, and on VTV6.

Why the squad has to change

Both competitions are open only to players born in 2005 or later, and the Asian qualifiers are expected in June 2027. In practice, the eligible group is made up of players who are 21 this year or younger.

That rule removes most of the core that has carried the under-23 side for roughly the past year and a half, since the Southeast Asian U23 championship in July 2025. Thanh Niên lists goalkeeper Trần Trung Kiên, centre-backs Hiểu Minh and Lý Đức, midfielders Xuân Bắc and Khuất Văn Khang, and forwards Đình Bắc and Thanh Nhàn. Hiểu Minh and Đình Bắc are 22; the other five are 23. None of them can play at SEA Games 34 or in the 2028 U23 Asian Cup.

The table pairs the departing regulars with the replacements the paper names for each position on the spine:

The proposed new spine

Cao Văn Bình already has international experience. He stood out at the 2026 U23 Asian Cup, notably in the third-place match against South Korea, and played consistently at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, in September.

Đinh Quang Kiệt is still a teenager but is in his third straight V-League season. He was a regular starter for HAGL in 2024-25 and 2025-26 and has played for Công an TP.HCM since the start of 2026-27. Thanh Niên sees the tall, experienced defender as a worthy successor to Hiểu Minh and Lý Đức.

In midfield, Hải Phòng's Nguyễn Công Phương is the strongest candidate to replace Xuân Bắc. He scored the only goal of the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 final against Indonesia at the Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta, and his extra height over Xuân Bắc (1.74m) helps him in one-on-one duels.

Up front, Nguyễn Lê Phát was the team's biggest discovery at the 2026 U23 Asian Cup. The paper says he still trails Đình Bắc in technique and finishing, which is understandable given the three-year age gap. Lê Văn Thuận, Nguyễn Đăng Dương and Trần Gia Bảo are named as promising forwards in the same age group.

What comes next

According to Thanh Niên, interim coach Đinh Hồng Vinh may use the Gia Lai Cup to test these personnel changes. Once the Cao Văn Bình, Đinh Quang Kiệt, Nguyễn Công Phương and Nguyễn Lê Phát axis is settled, the team gains the stability coach Kim Sang-sik needs to build a playing style.

The tournament takes place in Pleiku in November; the paper does not give individual match dates. After it, the targets for the 2005-and-later generation are SEA Games 34 in 2027 and the 2028 U23 Asian Cup qualifiers, expected in June 2027. Match dates for the under-23 team appear on the Vietnam national team fixtures page.