Nguyễn Tiến Linh

Nguyễn Tiến Linh (born 20 October 1997) is a Vietnamese professional footballer who plays as a striker for V.League 1 club Becamex Bình Dương and the Vietnam national team. In 2021, Tiến Linh was nominated by a panel of sports journalists and football experts for Best Footballer in Asia. He is considered one of the best Vietnamese footballers of his generation. After the match against China in February 2022, he became the all-time leader for Vietnam in the World Cup qualifiers, passing Lê Công Vinh who had 7 goals.

Early life
Nguyễn Tiến Linh was born and raised in the Cam Hoang commune of the Cam Giang district, Hai Duong. At the age of 2, his mother moved to South Korea for work. At the age of 6, he followed his father to Binh Duong. His mother returned to Vietnam when he was 9 years old. Currently, his family owns a football theme coffee shop in the city of Thuận An.

2015
With 5 goals, Tiến Linh was the top scorer of Vietnamese National U-19 Football Championship.

2016–present
Tiến Linh made his first debut with Becamex Binh Duong in 2016.

Over 4 years, Tiến Linh scored 26 goals, with fifteen in 2018, five in 2020, and six in 2021 before the cancellation of V.League 1. Becamex Binh Duong won the Vietnamese National Football Super Cup and also placed second in the Vietnamese National Football Super Cup, also earning the Vietnamese Bronze Ball in 2022.

2018: First Match for Vietnam and won AFF Championship
On 8 November 2018, Tiến Linh made his debut for the national team in the match against Laos. He scored his first goal for Vietnam against Cambodia in their last group match. At the end, Tiến Linh and Vietnam won 2018 AFF Championship.

2022 World Cup qualification
On 15 October 2019, Tiến Linh scored his first goal in 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification against Indonesia. A month later, he scored the only goal against UAE. In June 2021, he scored 3 goals in the last 3 matches of the second round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification to promote Vietnam to the third round. On 1 February 2022, he scored a goal in the match against China to surpass Le Cong Vinh as the top scorer for Vietnam in the history of World Cup qualification.

2020 AFF Championship
In 2020 AFF Championship, he scored a brace in a 4–0 win against Cambodia, but his team lost in the semi-finals to Thailand.

2022 AFF Championship
Tiến Linh scored 6 goals in 2022 AFF Championship to share the top goalscorer award with Thai striker Teerasil Dangda, but Vietnam once again lost Thailand by 2-3 on aggregate in the finals.

2026 World Cup qualification
During the 2nd round, Tiến Linh scored two goals against the Philippines and was awarded the Player of the Match title. Vietnam however was eliminated of the World Cup.

International
As of match played 11 June 2024 Scores and results list Vietnam's goal tally first.

Club
Becamex Binh Duong
 * Vietnamese National Cup: 2018
 * Vietnamese Super Cup: 2016

International
Vietnam Vietnam U23
 * AFF Championship: 2018
 * Southeast Asian Games: 2019, 2021

Individual

 * Vietnamese Silver Ball: 2022
 * Vietnamese Bronze Ball: 2021
 * AFF Championship Top scorer: 2022
 * AFF Championship Best XI: 2022