Nguyen Hoang Duc, the Vietnamese Golden Ball winner, will depart from The Cong FC after 17 years, following unsuccessful contract renewal negotiations.
Hoang Duc’s current contract with The Cong will expire tomorrow, July 11. Initially, the contract was set to expire in January 2025 but was adjusted to align with the 2023-2024 season ending mid-year.
Previously, on April 20, The Cong announced that both parties had reached some agreements, excluding key details such as signing bonuses and salaries. While Hoang Duc prioritized renewing with the military club, three months of negotiations saw no progress.
The 25-year-old midfielder will not move abroad after leaving The Cong. Instead, he will join a northern club with a three-year contract and a signing bonus of no less than 5 billion VND per season.
In the 2023-2024 V-League season, Hoang Duc played 2,104 minutes across 24 matches, averaging 87.7 minutes per game. Despite a less impressive performance with two goals and two assists, which saw The Cong finish fifth – their lowest since the championship season in 2020 – Hoang Duc was still named in the V-League Team of the Season.
Since his V-League debut in 2019, Hoang Duc has played 119 matches, scoring 17 goals and providing 28 assists. He is regarded as one of Vietnam’s best midfielders, having won the Vietnamese Golden Ball in 2021 and 2023, and the Bronze Ball in 2022.
The Hai Duong-born player graduated from the Viettel youth academy. In 2017, he was promoted to Viettel’s first team (now The Cong Viettel) and contributed to their 2018 First Division title, leading to their promotion to the V-League. In 2020, Hoang Duc helped The Cong win the V-League title and finish second in the National Cup. He has competed in various tournaments, including the AFC Champions League, AFC Cup, V-League, and National Cup.
In 2017, Hoang Duc was part of the Vietnam squad for the FIFA U20 World Cup in South Korea. He later won two SEA Games gold medals in 2019 and 2021. At the national team level, he debuted in Vietnam’s 4-0 victory over Indonesia in the second round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in June 2021. Since then, he has become a key player, featuring in 36 matches and scoring two goals.
Among The Cong’s 1998 generation, only Nguyen Duc Chien and Nguyen Duc Hoang Minh remain with the first team. Both are likely to continue their careers with the club.
Hoang Duc’s departure is one of the most notable transfers in Vietnamese football recently, alongside Pham Tuan Hai and Nguyen Quang Hai. Both players have secured their futures with Hanoi FC and Hanoi Police FC, respectively. Notably, Tuan Hai’s contract includes provisions for a potential move abroad, with Japan being a primary destination.
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