The world's most expensive overseas Vietnamese star is getting closer to a ticket to the World Cup.

(Dan Tri) - The world's most expensive Vietnamese-origin player, Ibrahim Maza, is getting very close to a ticket to the World Cup.

Ibrahim Maza is the most famous Vietnamese-origin player in the world at the moment. During the summer transfer window, the midfielder moved to Germany's top club Leverkusen. Currently, the 19-year-old star is valued at 12 million euros (about 370 billion VND) by the transfer website Transfermarkt.

Ibrahim Maza is likely to play in the World Cup with the Algerian team (Photo: Getty).

Ibrahim Maza has an Algerian father and a Vietnamese mother and grew up in German football. In the end, the midfielder born in 2005 decided to choose to play for the Algerian national team (instead of the Vietnamese or German national teams), even though in the past, he was a member of German youth teams.

Now, Ibrahim Maza is facing a great opportunity to win a ticket to the 2026 World Cup with the Algerian team. Currently, the North African team is leading Group G (only the top team can qualify for the World Cup) in Africa with 19 points, 4 points more than the second-ranked team Uganda in the context of only two rounds of qualifying.

That means Algeria will complete their goal of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup if they win against bottom-placed Somalia in the next match in October.

The 19-year-old player is playing for Leverkusen (Photo: Leverkusen).

Ibrahim Maza started playing for Algeria in October 2024 and made his debut in the CAN qualifier against Togo. However, in the two matches in the September training camp, Ibrahim Maza did not play for Algeria.

Speaking about his decision to choose the Algerian team, Ibrahim Maza said: “I chose Algeria for sporting reasons. I am young and wanted to have the opportunity to play for the national team. My family advised me on this choice. It was not an easy decision. I have been involved in German football for a long time and played at youth level.”

If he attends the World Cup, Ibrahim Maza will be a rare Vietnamese-origin player to participate in the number one football tournament on the planet.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/ngoi-sao-viet-kieu-dat-gia-nhat-the-gioi-tien-gan-toi-tam-ve-du-world-cup-20250911184001790.htm