Nguyễn Công Phương (born 3 June 2006) is a Vietnamese professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

V.League 1 The V.League 1 (), also called LPBank V.League 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football league in Vietnam, controlled by the Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF). It is contested by 14 clubs who play each ...

side Thể Công-Viettel.

Early career

Born in

Hải Dương Hải Dương () is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Hải Dương Province, Hải Dương, an industrialized province in the Hanoi Capital Region and the Red River Delta in Northern Vietnam. The city is at the midpoint between the capita ...

, Công Phương started playing football at an early age. At the age of 9, Công Phương joined the Hải Dương football center after his primary teacher's recommendation. At Hải Dương, Công Phương played as a

center back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

and helped his team finished runner-up in the Vietnamese National U-11 Championship in 2016 and 2017. In 2018, Công Phương joined the Viettel FC youth academy. In 2023, as the captain of Viettel U-19, Công Phương scored 4 goals in the Vietnamese National U-17 Championship, including a goal in the final to help his team win the tournament. He was given the "Player of the tournament" and the "Top scorer" award.

Club career

On 18 May 2024, Công Phương made his professional debut with Thể Công-Viettel, coming in as a substitute in the

game against

Nam Định Nam Định () is the capital city of Nam Định province in the Red River Delta of the Northern Vietnam. History From August 18–20 of each year, there is a festival held in Nam Định called the Cố Trạch. This celebration honors Gener ...

. In the 90th minute of the game, he delivered a cross that lead to

Trần Danh Trung Trần Danh Trung (born 3 October 2000) is a Vietnamese professional footballer who plays for V.League 1 club Viettel. Honours Viettel * V.League 1: 2020 * Vietnamese National Cup: Runner-up: 2020 *Vietnamese Super Cup Vietnamese National F ...

's goal as Thể Công-Viettel won 2–1.

International career

In March 2022, Công Phương was included in Vietnam U17 19-men squad for a training camp in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, where they played friendlies against youth teams of German professional clubs. Later in the year, Công Phương was selected Vietnam U16 squad to participate in the AFF U-16 Youth Championship. He was named as the team captain and scored two goals during the tournament as Vietnam finished as runner-up after losing to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

in the final. In February 2023, Công Phương was called up to the Vietnam U20 team for the 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup but refused to join the team to concentrate on the Vietnamese National U-17 Championship with his club. Later in year, Công Phương took part in the

2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup The 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup was the 19th edition of the AFC U-17 Asian Cup (including previous editions of the AFC U-16 Championship and AFC U-17 Championship), the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Asian Football ...

as the Vietnam U17's captain. He started in all three group stage games but displayed a disappointed performance as his team failed to win a game. In August 2023, Công Phương received his first call-up to the Vietnam U23 side top prepare for the 2023 AFF U-23 Championship but was not included in the final squad. A month after, he was included in the preliminary squad for the 2022 Asian Games but didn't make into the final list.

Playing style

Công Phương is highly appreciated for his ability to control, to coordinate the ball and to keep tempo in the midfield. Mainly operated as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, he can anchor the midfield or line up behind a striker with his capacity to make unexpected breakthoughts to cause chaos in the opponent's penalty area. These qualities made him one the most talented Vietnamese footballers in his generation.

Career statistics

Honours

Viettel Youth * Vietnamese National U-17 Football Championship: 2023 Vietnam U16 * AFF U-16 Youth Championship: runner-up:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Individual * Vietnamese National U-17 Football Championship best player: 2023 * Vietnamese National U-17 Football Championship top scorer: 2023

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Cong Phuong 2006 births Living people Vietnamese men's footballers V.League 1 players Vietnam men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders The Cong-Viettel FC players Sportspeople from Hải Dương province 21st-century Vietnamese sportsmen