The source of players is not abundant and different

BARRIERS FROM PREPARATION

When the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) first opened a quota for clubs to register 1 overseas Vietnamese player who did not have Vietnamese nationality as a domestic player, the 2023-2024 V-League immediately exploded with a total of 12 names. By the 2024-2025 V-League, the number dropped to 10 even though each club was allowed to register up to 2 overseas Vietnamese slots, before increasing to 13 after 3 additions: Damoth (Thanh Hoa Club), Mark Huynh ( Hai Phong Club) and Kevin Pham Ba (Nam Dinh Club). This shows that some overseas Vietnamese players have failed to demonstrate their abilities and had to leave. The reality on the pitch shows that the V-League opens its arms but also selects and eliminates harshly. Many names confidently came to the goal of playing for the Vietnamese national team, but suffered a culture and football shock and had to leave quietly when they were not suitable for the quality and culture of the V-League. The case of Viktor Le starting to assert himself in the second season and being called up to the U.23 Vietnam team is worth considering.

Viktor Le is a rare case of a young Vietnamese-American player who has proven his ability in the V-League.

PHOTO: MINH TU

In reality, Vietnamese football teams are still hunting for overseas Vietnamese players in their own way, in a hundred flowers blooming style. Vietnamese football still lacks representative companies with official FIFA practice certificates to create an effective network. Most of the team owners or coaching staff still mainly hunt for overseas Vietnamese players by searching Transfermarkt and then finding ways to contact, or through personal channels, or word of mouth. Many people are participating in this new wave spontaneously, without a method or even lacking the professional knowledge to have accurate initial assessments and advice. This leads to a certain gap between expectations and reality, as well as the quality of searching for overseas Vietnamese players. The poor assessment and preparation process has forced many overseas Vietnamese players to pack up and leave as mentioned above.

NEED TO BUILD EFFECTIVE CONNECTION CHANNEL

A few years ago and recently, many families of overseas Vietnamese players did not understand the quality of Vietnamese football, and assumed that their children returning home would quickly become stars. Many parents even set the condition that the VFF would automatically give them the opportunity to play for the national teams before bringing their children back for trial training. This still exists in both men's and women's football. Many families even believe that the VFF must (and has the capacity) to naturalize their children, while the procedure stipulates that the necessary condition is to have confirmation of long-term residence in Vietnam. These things show that we still lack an effective information channel for overseas Vietnamese families, the VFF and Vietnamese clubs to understand each other better. The efforts of the VFF, the success of Vietnamese teams, the World Cup aspirations and the attraction of the V-League are helping to create increasing interest from overseas Vietnamese players and families. But the preparation and connection are still not effective, leading to the quality and quantity of overseas Vietnamese players still not as expected.

The need and desire for quality overseas Vietnamese players in Vietnamese football is huge, as evidenced by the interesting story of the Vietnam Football Scout page. The administrator of this page shared that he had to spend a lot of effort searching for information, hunting for potential overseas Vietnamese players playing football in Europe or the US, but the approach was very difficult: "Some people are very easy to talk to, they answer immediately, answering any question. But there are also people who just read but do not respond or just give vague answers. In general, the more famous the player, the harder it is to talk to them. Some people have to be persistent, pursuing them for a whole year before they open up."

It must be said that when Vietnam has not participated in the World Cup, overseas Vietnamese players will tend to prioritize development in a high-level football environment. Indonesia was like Vietnam, until billionaire Erick Thohir (who bought the Italian giant Inter Milan) stepped in strongly to create a wave of naturalized stars. Vietnam can learn from Indonesia to quickly approach young players with potential, share information and build emotional ties with the homeland. The results of the Vietnamese team in continental competitions such as the Asian Cup and World Cup qualifiers will also be an important driving force. The attraction of the V-League in terms of treatment and the way Vietnam supports overseas Vietnamese players to become naturalized is also very important for them to return home. Above all, overseas Vietnamese players themselves - with the advantage of physique and strength - must also demonstrate their ability equal to or higher than many Vietnamese colleagues, typically Nguyen Filip, Dang Van Lam, Patrik Le Giang... To be successful, it will require a synchronous, rhythmic strategy from the information, connection, preparation, implementation stages... as Thailand and Indonesia are implementing very effectively . (to be continued)

Indonesia has a centuries-long history of connection with the Netherlands, which has a strong football background, so it has a large number of quality players of mixed blood. While football is still a new sport in the US, which has the largest number of overseas Vietnamese. Currently, the European region is an impressive cradle in both quantity and quality of young overseas Vietnamese players who are playing for youth teams or signing professional contracts with clubs in France, Germany, Belgium, England, etc.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nguon-cau-thu-chua-doi-dao-va-khac-biet-185250521203437009.htm