Lucky duo: Pham Trong Hoa (left) from PVF Club and Hoang The Tai from Viettel Club (right) have been chosen to attend a training course at Qatar's Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence. — File Photo

HA NOI — Two Vietnamese young football players have been chosen to join a month-long training course at Qatar's Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence. The two footballers, Hoang The Tai from Viettel Club and Pham Trong Hoa from PVF Club, were the top players at the Football Dreams programme, which concluded in HCM City recently. This non-profit programme began in May and attracted around 60,000 boys aged between 13-14 from across the country.

Tai and Hoa will compete with other young international players for three-year scholarships granted by the Aspire Academy early next year.

In addition, trainees will receive a monthly salary and their families will also receive nearly VND150 million (US$7,000) per year.

Last year, the programme also attracted about 60,000 boys aged between 13-15. The winners were Nguyen Minh Hung from Binh Duong and Nguyen Phong Hong Duy from Binh Phuoc Province.

Football Dreams, a recruiting project that nurtures and develops young footballing talent, is in its fifth year in Viet Nam, organised by the Qatar's Aspire Academy and the Viet Nam Football Federation.

The unique scouting project is aimed at identifying future talents in world football. Since its 2007 launch, Aspire's Football Dreams project has tested over 700,000 young footballers from Asia, South America and Africa.

Da Nang City-born Nguyen Thai Sung was the first Vietnamese player to receive a three-year scholarship at the Academy. He has been named in Viet Nam's 26-man squad in preparation for the AFF U19 Football Championships slated for September 2-8 in HCM City. — VNS