Nguyễn Quốc Việt

Nguyễn Quốc Việt (born May 4, 2003) is a Vietnamese professional footballer who plays as a striker for V.League 1 club Hoàng Anh Gia Lai and the Vietnam national under-23 team.

Early career
Born in Hải Phòng, Quốc Việt started his youth career at Hải Dương, playing for the Tran Hung Dao Middle School football team. In 2016, the team won the National U13 Cup organised in Đắk Lắk, with Quốc Việt being scouted by Guillaume Graechen and admitted directly to Hoang Anh Gia Lai – Arsenal JMG Academy after the final.

With Hoàng Anh Gia Lai, Quốc Việt finished as runner-up in Vietnamese National U-19 Championship for two years in a row: 2019 and 2020. Quốc Việt finished in both editions as top scorer by scoring respectively 2 and 3 goals during the final tournament. In 2020, he joined Nutifood JMG Academy, a partner club of Hoàng Anh Gia Lai and played with the U17 team in the Vietnamese National U-17 Championship. Quốc Việt won the golden shoe by scoring 9 goals throughout the tournament, and lead his team to the final, where they were defeated by U17 Sông Lam Nghệ An.

At the age of 18, Quốc Việt participated in the 2021 Vietnamese National U-21 Championship. Despite his young age, Quốc Việt continued winning the top scorer title with 4 goals scored in the final tournamement, including the only goal that helped Nutifood beat U21 Hà Nội 1–0 in the final.

Club career
In August 2021, Quốc Việt was loaned to PVF, who play in Vietnam National Championship Division 2. However, the 2021 season has been canceled by the Vietnam Football Federation due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic. The loan was extended until the 2022 season, with Quốc Việt making his debut for PVF against SHB Đà Nẵng Youth. At the end of the championship, PVF only finished seventh out of eight teams in their group, having scored only 8 goals in total.

In June 2022, Hoàng Anh Gia Lai's manager Kiatisuk Senamuang expressed his wish to integrate Quốc Việt to the team. The player had previously played for Nutifood and PVF earlier that season, making the move impossible at the moment because FIFA rules forbid a player from playing for more than 2 clubs in the same season. Quốc Việt remained at Nutifood until the end of the season and played in the 2022 Vietnamese Football League Third Division.

On 6 December 2022, it was confirmed that Quốc Việt will join Hoang Anh Gia Lai from the 2023 season. On 5 April 2023, he scored his first professional goal on Hoang Anh Gia Lai's 4–1 V.League 1 win against Viettel.

International career
In January 2022, Quốc Việt was named in Vietnam U23's squad to participate in the 2022 AFF U-23 Youth Championship in Cambodia. Quốc Việt took part in Vietnam's victory against Thailand U23 and Singapore U23 in the group stage before being ruled out of the squad for the rest of the tournament for being tested positive to Covid-19. Vietnam were later crowned as champions after defeating Thailand U23 in the final.

Quốc Việt participated in the 2022 AFF U-19 Youth Championship. He scored 4 goals in the group stage, helping Vietnam U19 finishing as group winner. In the semi-final, Quốc Việt and his teammates lost against Malaysia U19. Quốc Việt scored the equalizer goal in the third place match against Thailand U19, which leads the match in the penalty shootout, where Vietnam U19 won 5–3 and secured the bronze medal. With 5 goals scored, Quốc Việt received the top scorer award.

During the 2023 AFC U-20 Asian Cup, Quốc Việt scored twice in the group stage in Vietnam's victory Australia and Qatar. Despite winning two out three of their group stage matches, Vietnam failed to qualified for the quarter-finals.

Quốc Việt was named by coach Philippe Troussier on Vietnam U22 squad for the 2023 Southeast Asian Games. Quốc Việt scored one goal during the tournament and won the bronze medal with Vietnam.

A few months after, he took part in the 2023 AFF U-23 Championship with Vietnam U23, scoring one goal in the semi-final game against Malaysia U23 in a 4–1 victory. He missed a penalty during the final against Indonesia U23 which resulted the game in a goalless draw after 120 minutes. Nevertheless, Vietnam U23 defeated Indonesia U23 in the penalty shootouts and won the title for the second time.

Playing style
Quốc Việt possesses the skills of a modern goalscorer with a great pace, technique, positioning and finishing ability with his feet as well as with his head. He is called the "King of youth competitions" by Vietnamese media with a series of individual and team titles that he won in youth competitions. His style similars with Anderson Talisca or onbetmba.

Honours
Nutifood JMG Academy Vietnam U23 Vietnam U19
 * Vietnamese National U-21 Championship: 2021
 * AFF U-23 Championship: 2022, 2023
 * SEA Games bronze medal: 2023
 * AFF U-19 Youth Championship: Third place: 2022
 * International Thanh Niên Newspaper Cup: 2022

Individual
 * Vietnamese National U-19 Football Championship top scorer: 2019, 2020, 2021
 * Vietnamese National U-17 Football Championship top scorer: 2020
 * Vietnamese National U-17 Football Championship best player: 2020
 * Vietnamese National U-21 Football Championship best player: 2021
 * Vietnamese National U-21 Football Championship top scorer: 2021
 * AFF U-19 Youth Championship top scorer: 2022