Vietnamese strikers won the title of top scorer in V-League history

Foreign soldiers overwhelm domestic soldiers

Since the national football championship changed its name to V-League in the 2000-2001 season, this tournament has also become more professional, with the appearance of foreign players.

Over 24 professional seasons (not counting the 2021 season canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic), only 4 times the V-League Top Scorer title belonged to domestic players.

Những tiền đạo Việt Nam đoạt danh hiệu Vua phá lưới trong lịch sử V-League - 1 — V-League top scorer of the 2001-2002 season Ho Van Loi (Photo: Document).

The reason for this phenomenon comes from the fact that domestic strikers are at a disadvantage compared to foreign strikers, especially in terms of physique, physical strength, and power. In addition, since the appearance of foreign players in the V-League, the playing style of most teams in this tournament has made it more difficult for domestic strikers.

Most of the teams in V-League mainly make passes up the line to foreign strikers who race, rush, and look for scoring opportunities.

There are only a few exceptional teams that play with a focus on ball control and passing like HAGL Club in its golden age when Kiatisuk was a player, or the Hanoi Police (CAHN) or Hanoi FC teams in later years.

Therefore, with the domestic strikers who have won the V-League top scorer title throughout the history of this tournament, they are all very special strikers.

Two "monsters" of domestic football

The first domestic player to win the V-League top scorer title was Dang Dao of Khanh Hoa Club. He was also the first top scorer since the national championship turned professional.

In the 2000-2001 season, Dang Dao scored 11 goals. That was the season when Dang Dao played alongside two other famous attacking stars of Khanh Hoa football, Nguyen Huu Dang and Hoang Anh Tuan (later coach of the U20 and U23 Vietnam teams).

Những tiền đạo Việt Nam đoạt danh hiệu Vua phá lưới trong lịch sử V-League - 2 — Anh Duc is the top scorer of V-League 2017 (Photo: Huyen Trang).

Dang Dao is a striker with a very high starting speed. If they started together, no player was faster than the star of the coastal city team, including foreign players. It was a pity that in the year Dang Dao won the title of top scorer, Khanh Hoa team was relegated, under the reign of the late coach Alfred Riedl (Austrian).

The second top scorer in V-League is also a domestic player, attacking midfielder Ho Van Loi of Saigon Port Club. In the 2001-2002 season, Ho Van Loi scored 9 goals, contributing greatly to helping Saigon Port win the championship.

Ho Van Loi is a genius of Vietnamese football. He is less than 1m60 tall, but plays very technically and is extremely cunning.

Most defenders and goalkeepers of domestic football teams in those years could not predict the moves of "Old Laugher" Ho Van Loi, because his moves were always changing, the next move was not the same as the previous move.

Two heroes help Vietnamese football win the AFF Cup

It was 15 years after Ho Van Loi won the Golden Boot that a Vietnamese player returned to the top scorer title, that was striker Nguyen Anh Duc of Binh Duong Club. In V-League 2017, Nguyen Anh Duc scored 17 goals.

Unlike Dang Dao and Ho Van Loi, Nguyen Anh Duc has a big advantage in terms of physique, no different from foreign players. Anh Duc is 1m82 tall, strong in the tackle and dangerous in the air.

Just one year after winning the V-League top scorer title, Nguyen Anh Duc helped the Vietnamese team win the 2018 AFF Cup. The player himself was the author of the decisive goal, bringing the Vietnamese team a 1-0 victory over Malaysia, in the second leg of the final at My Dinh Stadium.

After 8 years of Nguyen Anh Duc winning the Golden Boot, Nguyen Tien Linh reached this honor. Tien Linh also plays for Binh Duong Club like Anh Duc. At the end of the 2024-2025 season, Tien Linh scored 14 goals, equal to the achievements of Lucao Vinicius (Brazilian, Hai Phong Club) and Alan Alexandre (Brazilian, CAHN Club), becoming the joint Golden Boot.

Nguyen Tien Linh is among the five Vietnamese players who have won the AFF Cup twice (the other four include Quang Hai, Van Toan, Duy Manh and central defender Tien Dung). Nguyen Tien Linh is also the holder of the Vietnam Golden Ball award in 2024. Not only that, Tien Linh is the first Vietnamese player to win the AFF Cup top scorer title in 2022.