Nguyễn Hữu Thắng (footballer, born 2000)

Nguyễn Hữu Thắng (born 19 May 2000) is a Vietnamese professional footballer who plays as a attacking midfielder for V.League 1 side Viettel.

Club career

Born in Thừa Thiên Huế, Hữu Thắng is a youth product of Hà Nội's based team Viettel FC. He was part of the Viettel U-21 side that won the Vietnamese National U-21 Championship in 2020 and was chosen as the best player of the tournament.^[2]

In 2019, he was loaned to his hometown club Huế and made his professional debut during the 2019 V.League 2. He scored 7 goals after 12 games for the club.^[3]

In 2020, he remained in V.League 2, joining Bình Định on loan. He scored 6 goals and had 9 assists during the 2020 season, helping the club winning the V.League 2 title.^[3]^[4]

After his successful loan spells, Hữu Thắng was registered in Viettel's squad for the 2021 V.League 1. On 9 October 2022, he scored his first goal for the club against Hải Phòng.^[2]

International career

In 2016, Hữu Thắng took part in the AFF U-16 Youth Championship with Vietnam U16 and scored 4 goals as his team reached the final, but lost to Australia in the penalty shootout.^[5] He later featured in the 2016 AFC U-16 Championship. In the decisive group stage game against Australia, Hữu Thắng scored a brace to help his team win 3–2, qualifying them to the quarter-finals, where they were defeared by Iran.^[3]

In 2018, Hữu Thắng was named in Vietnam U19 squad for the AFC U-19 Championship. He appeared in all three group stage matches but Vietnam failed to reach the knockout stage after three defeats.^[6]

Playing style

Hữu Thắng is a tricky left-footed player with high tactical awareness and the ability to make breakout dribbles during the match.^[7] His playstyle resembles Nguyễn Quang Hải (born 1997).^[3]