In recent years, the Indonesian and Malaysian national teams have risen with massive naturalization policies. In contrast, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) has affirmed its cautiousness with naturalization policies and prioritizes the development of youth football.
Despite the success with Xuan Son, the Vietnamese team is still cautious about naturalization (Photo: Thanh Dong).
Score newspaper is impressed with the way Vietnam does football. They think that VFF wants to develop football in the long term, not prioritizing short-term achievements like Indonesia and Malaysia.
The Indonesian newspaper commented: “The Vietnamese team is not in a hurry to add foreign players en masse. The naturalization process that Vietnamese football applies is done carefully and selectively. They only open the door to players who have lived in this country for at least 5 years.
A typical example of this approach is the case of striker Rafaelson. After 5 years of living in Vietnam, he officially became a Vietnamese citizen and changed his name to Nguyen Xuan Son.
Although FIFA allows countries to naturalize players after five years of residency, Vietnam still focuses on the quality and long-term contribution of those players to the development of the national team.
Unlike Indonesia, the team has massively added famous players from Europe such as Maarten Paes or Calvin Verdonk... the Vietnamese team focuses more on integration and long-term adaptation.
Indonesia and Malaysia have been at the forefront of tapping into foreign-born players to strengthen their squads. Indonesia has been successful in attracting many European-born players, while Malaysia has relied heavily on players from Argentina and Spain.
Vietnam national team still prioritizes youth training (Photo: VFF).
The strategies of these two teams are generally geared towards short-term results, especially in preparation for major tournaments such as the 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.
Meanwhile, the Vietnamese national team has chosen a different path. Although it has begun to open up opportunities for naturalization, Vietnam remains steadfast in its philosophy of developing football through youth training and a domestic league system.
Countries such as Cambodia and the Philippines have also applied the expedited naturalization method, but the Vietnam Football Federation believes that approach is not suitable to ensure long-term stability.
However, the Vietnamese team also has some players who were born abroad but have Vietnamese blood. Names like Cao Pendant Quang Vinh (who has French-Vietnamese blood) or goalkeeper Nguyen Filip (who has Vietnamese-Czech blood) are typical examples.
Both are considered valuable additions to the Vietnamese national team, while not going against the principle of caution pursued by the Vietnam Football Federation.
With this approach, the Vietnamese team does not pursue immediate results, but prioritizes the stability and long-term progress of the country's football.
Although slow, the strategy of the Vietnamese team can become a sustainable development model, suitable for countries that are in the process of building a solid foundation for football."
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/bao-indonesia-phan-ung-bat-ngo-voi-chinh-sach-nhap-tich-cua-tuyen-viet-nam-20250619130428628.htm
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