Who will temporarily replace Coach Kim Sang Sik to lead the Vietnam national team?

An assistant to Coach Kim Sang Sik may be assigned temporarily to serve as the interim head coach of the Vietnam national team.

As previously reported, both the U23 Vietnam and the senior national team will gather simultaneously again in September. However, priority will be given to the U23 team as they prepare for the important 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers, while the senior team has no official friendly matches scheduled.

Nevertheless, the senior team will have two internal friendly matches against Thep Xanh Nam Dinh and CAHN, expected to take place on September 4 and 7, while the U23 team will host the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers in Viet Tri with three matches in Group C against Bangladesh (September 3), Singapore (September 6), and Yemen (September 9). Therefore, Coach Kim Sang Sik cannot lead both teams simultaneously.

Of course, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) will prioritize the best coaching staff for the main event, the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers. Hence, someone else will need to temporarily take over Coach Kim Sang Sik’s duties to lead the national team during the two friendly matches against Thep Xanh Nam Dinh and CAHN in September.

Currently, the VFF has not announced who will temporarily replace Coach Kim Sang Sik to lead the national team while the Korean strategist focuses on the U23 team. Two options may be considered: appointing one of Kim Sang Sik’s current assistants as acting head coach or naming a new interim head coach.

The primary technical assistant to Coach Kim Sang Sik is his compatriot Lee Jung Soo, who holds an AFC A coaching license and has many years of top-level playing and coaching experience. Additionally, there are Vietnamese assistants such as Coach Dinh Hong Vinh, who has served as acting head coach of the U23 team multiple times, and assistant Nguyen Cong Manh, who replaced Coach Dinh Hong Vinh at the recent 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship.

Among leading Southeast Asian national teams like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, the head coaches for the U23 and senior teams are separate. Since Coach Kim Sang Sik manages both squads, he will need strong assistants to help share his responsibilities.