A European football club simultaneously possesses two valuable Vietnamese diaspora stars

Fortuna Dusseldorf, a German second-tier team, is home to two Vietnamese heritage players, Simon Vu and Kenneth Schmidt, who have drawn considerable interest from professionals and supporters in Vietnam.

Simon Vu, born in 2006, holds dual Vietnamese-German nationality. He joined Fortuna Dusseldorf’s academy at age 13 and is now a key player for their B team competing in the Regionalliga West, Germany’s fourth division. In the 2025/26 season, Simon has played 11 matches, starting 10, and provided one assist. Despite his youth, he has demonstrated maturity, agile ball control, and strong tactical awareness. He is versatile, able to play from central midfield to full-back.

In October 2025, coach Daniel Thioune included Simon in the first-team squad during the FIFA international break for a friendly against Heracles Almelo. Shortly after coming on, he was involved in the play leading to the decisive 3-1 goal for Dusseldorf.

Currently, Transfermarkt values Simon at 50,000 euros (approximately 1.5 billion VND), a modest figure that could rise sharply if he gets regular first-team appearances. Notably, Simon holds a Vietnamese passport, making him eligible to represent Vietnam's U23 or senior national teams in the near future.

The other player is Kenneth Schmidt, born in 2002, standing 1.87 meters tall, who plays as a left-back or center-back. He has German, Madagascan, and Vietnamese heritage (his mother is Vietnamese). Kenneth developed through SC Freiburg’s academy and debuted for their first team in the 2023 Europa League match against Juventus. After a spell at Hannover 96, he transferred to Fortuna Dusseldorf in June 2025 and quickly secured a starting position.

In the 2025/26 season, Kenneth has appeared in 8 matches and scored once in the 2. Bundesliga. He has represented Germany’s youth teams from U18 to U21, earning 18 caps and scoring 2 goals. Transfermarkt currently values Kenneth at 800,000 euros (over 24.6 billion VND), making him one of the highest-valued Vietnamese-origin players active in Europe.

The presence of Simon Vu and Kenneth Schmidt at Fortuna Dusseldorf is not only a source of pride for the Vietnamese community in Germany but also a beacon of hope for Vietnamese football in discovering talented players of Vietnamese descent with high-level European experience.