Luong Xuan Truong is a rather timid, quiet child, but he has very bold dreams.
“I’m trying to train hard here to become a professional footballer in the future. I hope to play football in Europe, preferably in the English football championship Premier League,” the 14-year-old says.
The potential star hails from Tuyen Quang Town, 1,222 km from the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, where the first professional football training academy in Vietnam is located.
Truong left his family in the northeastern mountainous province of Tuyen Quang three years ago to board at the Hoang Anh Gia Lai – Arsenal JMG Academy, considered the best football training centre in Vietnam and Southeast Asia at present.
Truong got past 52 contenders to be one of the 14 boys selected for the first course in the academy.
The academy will train selected students for seven years for free.
After studying at the Ly Thuong Kiet secondary school in the Chuh Drong Commune, six km from the academy and taking English and French classes organised by the academy, Truong and his team-mates will practice football in the afternoon under the guidance of French coach Graechen Guillaume.
Guillaume, who has been working for three years at the academy, said he was pleased with his job and willing to devote all his time to young players, but because they had to study in the morning, he could only divide them to play six or nine a side matches.
Sometimes, he invited teams from neighbouring provinces like Binh Dinh and Dak Lak.
“He is a very clever boy and has good skills and the promise to be a football star,” Guillaume said of Truong.
But it was too early to say which of the boys can play football in Europe, Guillaume said.
“The boys are still very young and in the early stages of completing their full development of their talents, but the important thing is that they are improving both physically and mentally,” said the 33-year-old Frenchman.
“We are working to train the boys to become players who are able to play football in Asian countries’ championship like the Republic of Korea’s K-League or Japan’s J-League or even in the world’s leading football championships in Europe and, of course, are key players in Vietnam’s national team.”
Whether they play for a leading club or country, or in Europe, Truong and his peers at the academy are at the vanguard of a new phase in Vietnamese football that will identify talent early and provide training of international standards.
Only good things can come out of such initiave./.
“I’m trying to train hard here to become a professional footballer in the future. I hope to play football in Europe, preferably in the English football championship Premier League,” the 14-year-old says.
The potential star hails from Tuyen Quang Town, 1,222 km from the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, where the first professional football training academy in Vietnam is located.
Truong left his family in the northeastern mountainous province of Tuyen Quang three years ago to board at the Hoang Anh Gia Lai – Arsenal JMG Academy, considered the best football training centre in Vietnam and Southeast Asia at present.
Truong got past 52 contenders to be one of the 14 boys selected for the first course in the academy.
The academy will train selected students for seven years for free.
After studying at the Ly Thuong Kiet secondary school in the Chuh Drong Commune, six km from the academy and taking English and French classes organised by the academy, Truong and his team-mates will practice football in the afternoon under the guidance of French coach Graechen Guillaume.
Guillaume, who has been working for three years at the academy, said he was pleased with his job and willing to devote all his time to young players, but because they had to study in the morning, he could only divide them to play six or nine a side matches.
Sometimes, he invited teams from neighbouring provinces like Binh Dinh and Dak Lak.
“He is a very clever boy and has good skills and the promise to be a football star,” Guillaume said of Truong.
But it was too early to say which of the boys can play football in Europe, Guillaume said.
“The boys are still very young and in the early stages of completing their full development of their talents, but the important thing is that they are improving both physically and mentally,” said the 33-year-old Frenchman.
“We are working to train the boys to become players who are able to play football in Asian countries’ championship like the Republic of Korea’s K-League or Japan’s J-League or even in the world’s leading football championships in Europe and, of course, are key players in Vietnam’s national team.”
Whether they play for a leading club or country, or in Europe, Truong and his peers at the academy are at the vanguard of a new phase in Vietnamese football that will identify talent early and provide training of international standards.
Only good things can come out of such initiave./.
