Hoang Duc leads the race for the Vietnam Golden Ball 2025
After 11 rounds of the First Division, Hoang Duc has 5 goals and 6 assists, helping Ninh Binh take the lead and maintain a 35-match unbeaten streak; opponents are unstable with Gala just over a month left.
The 2025 Vietnam Golden Ball Gala is approaching and in a year lacking absolute superiority, Nguyen Hoang Duc has emerged as the number one candidate. His role as a conductor in Ninh Binh and his impressive stats – 5 goals, 6 assists after 11 rounds – put him at the top of the race.
Outstanding Profile: Statistics and Influence
As a leader in the playing style, Hoang Duc leads the important statistics among domestic players: 5 goals and 6 assists after 11 rounds, a total of 11 times directly participating in goals - a distance that no domestic star has reached at the present time. His influence is shown in the collective: Ninh Binh flies high at the top of the rankings and maintains a 35-match unbeaten streak.
| Index | Value |
|---|---|
| Number of rounds played | 11 |
| Goal | 5 |
| Construction | 6 |
| Total goal participation | 11 |
| Club status | Top of the chart |
| Unbeaten streak | 35 matches |
Race background: lack of a dominant star
An unfortunate case is Nguyen Xuan Son, the best player of the ASEAN Cup 2024. A serious injury and absence throughout 2025 makes the Brazilian striker unsuitable to be on the candidate list, thereby opening up a competition but lacking an outstanding highlight throughout the season.
Hoang Duc's opponent: performance has not improved yet
While Hoang Duc has maintained stability, many national team pillars have not reached the desired form. Nguyen Tien Linh – the reigning Golden Ball winner – has only scored 3 goals. Tuan Hai and Quang Hai have similar achievements, while Gia Hung has only scored 2 goals. Collective titles at some clubs are not enough to cover the lack of consistency in individual contributions.
Other potential candidates for the collective title include Van Vi (Nam Dinh Club), Quang Hai (National Cup, National Super Cup) or Dinh Bac (National Cup, National Super Cup, U23 Southeast Asian champion with the title of best player). However, stability has not been maintained or has been interrupted due to injury, further highlighting the continuity in Hoang Duc's performance.
The last window before Gala
There is more than a month left until the Gala night, so there are not many opportunities to score points. The national team only has one match left against Laos, while the V.League is on hiatus. Only CAHN and Nam Dinh players have more "room to perform" in the AFC Champions League Two and Shopee Cup. The biggest stage left belongs to U23 Vietnam at SEA Games 33. To break Hoang Duc's lead, names like Dinh Bac, Thanh Nhan or Van Truong need a rare explosive performance - the kind of effect Quang Hai created at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship.
Current position
In a season without a dominant star, the professional profile and influence of Hoang Duc – the Ninh Binh conductor, leading in the number of goals scored and attached to a long unbeaten streak – is putting him in the number one position in the race for the 2025 Vietnam Golden Ball.
