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.

Nguyễn Tiến Linh was born and raised in the Cẩm Hoàng commune of the Cẩm Giang district, Hải Dương. At the age of 2, his mother moved to South Korea for work. At the age of 6, he followed his father to Bình Dương. His mother returned to Vietnam when he was 9 years old.

Tiến Linh began playing football for his school team. At the age of 13, he followed his PE teacher's advice and participated in the trial test of Becamex Bình Dương, in which he was later admitted to the club. At first, he played as midfielder, but then switched to striker.

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

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

Over 4 years, Tiến Linh scored 26 goals: 15 in 2018, 5 in 2020, and 6 in 2021 before the cancellation of the league due to Covid-19. 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 2021. In 2022, he earned the Vietnamese Silver Ball.

Tiến Linh won the Vietnamese Golden Ball award for the first time in 2024.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Tiến Linh scored 4 goals in 2024 ASEAN Championship, contributed greatly to helping the Vietnam win the Southeast Asian championship for the third time.

As of match played 13 April 2025

As of match played 25 March 2025

Scores and results list Vietnam's goal tally first.

Becamex Bình Dương

• Vietnamese National Cup: 2018
• Vietnamese Super Cup: 2016

Vietnam

• ASEAN Championship: 2018, 2024

Vietnam U23

• SEA Games: 2019, 2021

• Vietnamese Golden Ball: 2024
• Vietnamese Silver Ball: 2022
• Vietnamese Bronze Ball: 2021
• ASEAN Championship Top scorer: 2022
• ASEAN Championship All-Star XI: 2022, 2024
• Third-class Labor Order: 2025