Lê Công Vinh

Song Lam Nghe An

Born in Nghệ An, Công Vinh is a well-known Vietnamese footballer. Công Vinh is widely considered as one of the best strikers that Song Lam Nghe An has ever produced, along with Phạm Văn Quyến. He is currently SLNA's all-time top goal scorer. At the age of 14, he began to train his football skill. After the qualification to junior team of Nghệ An, he was classified to be "not so potential", both in skill and mentality. At the age of 18, he was picked into the main team of Song Lam Nghe An where he started to show his ability at JVC Cup 2003. Until 2004, he scored his first score at V-League on 8 February against Dong Thap team. Later he received Best New Player of the Year as well as Best Player of the Year Award. Eventually, he received many invitations from other football clubs, even from Japan and Saudi Arabia for the salary up to $10,000 per month.

Hanoi T&T

In 2008, after a well-documented transfer saga, Công Vinh turned down Thể Công at the last minute to accept a more lucrative offer from Hanoi T&T; it was the highest transfer fee in Vietnamese football at the time.

Leixões

At the beginning of August 2009, T&T announced that Công Vinh would be joining Leixões of Portugal in a three-month loan deal, starting 1 September 2009. The deal was facilitated by Henrique Calisto, who was once Leixões' manager. On 24 August 2009, Công Vinh officially signed with Leixões and was given the number 29 shirt. Two days later, in a friendly…

In the first group match of the 2007 Asian Cup, Công Vinh scored the second goal for Vietnam to secure a 2–0 victory against United Arab Emirates. The team eventually reached the quarterfinals, before falling to eventual champions Iraq. After a quiet and much criticized performance in the group stage in the 2008 AFF Championship, Công Vinh came through in the elimination stage. He set up the only goal in a 1–0 upset of defending champions Singapore. In the first leg of the final, Công Vinh scored the second to give Vietnam a victory against Thailand in Bangkok. In the second leg, Công Vinh set off celebrations throughout Vietnam as he headed home the tying goal in the last minute, thus giving Vietnam its first ever AFF Championship title. After the 2016 AYA Bank Cup, Công Vinh announced that he would retire from international football after the 2016 AFF Championship. If only the Vietnamese national squad able to qualify for the finals in the 2016 edition, Công Vinh said that he will think twice about his retirement as he received request from international clubs to play in their league for the 2017 edition. Shortly after the end of Vietnam's match against Indonesia in the 2016 semi-finals, which they lost, Công Vinh retired from professional football.

Công Vinh was regarded as one of the prominent footballers in Vietnam and Southeast Asia during his career. Primarily a second striker, he was also used as a left winger and center forward. He was known for his pace, work rate, and ability in aerial play despite his height of 1.72m. He also took set pieces and free kicks during matches. His weakness in playing style is that he cannot play well as a lone striker in tactical systems using only one forward because of his slender physique, which was proven in AFF Cup 2012. His disappointing performance in this tournament is an example when Coach Phan Thanh Hung deployed him play as a central forward in the 4–2–3–1 formation. After his ACL injury in 2010, Công Vinh simplized his playing style when most of his goals came from his positioning and one-touch finishing. Additionally, Công Vinh has stated that he idolises Luís Figo and Thierry Henry. His favourite approach is to attack the box from both flanks and attempt to strike or create scoring opportunities for his teammates.

Lê Công Vinh was born in Quỳnh Lâm, Quỳnh Lưu, Nghệ An; he has two older sisters and one younger sister. Due to difficult conditions for the whole family, his father smuggled cocaine; he was later arrested and sentenced to 12 years in jail. However, after only eight years due to good behavior, he was released before the due date.