Goalkeeper Filip Nguyen is awaiting citizenship and will be eligible to join the Vietnamese national team.

Vietnamese-born goalkeeper Filip Nguyen is awaiting Vietnamese citizenship. If the procedure is completed, the Hanoi Police FC goalkeeper will be eligible to play for the national team.

Goalkeeper Filip Nguyen (in yellow shirt) debuts the new kit for Hanoi Police FC in the V-League 2023/24 season. (Source: FBCN)

Filip Nguyễn joined Hanoi Police FC from the second phase of the 2023 V-League season. In the latter half of last season and the beginning of the current season, this goalkeeper was registered as an overseas Vietnamese player.

Currently, Hanoi Police FC has submitted an application for Vietnamese citizenship for goalkeeper Filip Nguyen. If this application is approved, Filip Nguyen will become a domestic player in the V-League. This will make it easier for the goalkeeper to play for the reigning V-League champions.

Furthermore, if Filip Nguyen obtains Vietnamese citizenship, he will be eligible to represent the Vietnamese national team in World Cup qualifiers, the Asian Cup, and other international tournaments.

Previously, goalkeeper Filip Nguyen was called up to the Czech Republic national team a few times, but he never once played a minute for the Eastern European team.

According to FIFA regulations, a player who has not yet played for the national or U23 team of another country may play for the national team of the country of which he is a citizen.

Currently, Filip Nguyen's side is eager to obtain Vietnamese citizenship and play for the national team coached by Philippe Troussier.

From coach Troussier's perspective, having goalkeeper Filip Nguyen for the Vietnamese national team would be a very valuable addition. Filip Nguyen is a European-class goalkeeper with a good physique (1.92m) and performs very consistently.

Furthermore, this player is skilled at both catching the ball with his hands and initiating attacks with his feet, in the style of modern goalkeepers.

The Vietnamese national team is expected to gather on November 6th to prepare for the second round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in the Asian region, facing the Philippines on November 16th and Iraq on November 21st.

If Filip Nguyen manages to obtain Vietnamese citizenship before the aforementioned dates, he may be able to participate in the first matches of the Vietnamese national team in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

If Filip Nguyen is unable to obtain Vietnamese citizenship in time, he will have to wait until the 2023 Asian Cup (taking place from January 12th to February 10th, 2024, in Qatar), or wait for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers to resume in March 2024.

Filip Nguyễn is 31 years old this year, born in Slovakia (formerly Slovakia and the Czech Republic were one country, called Czechoslovakia), and his father is Vietnamese.

Filip Nguyễn rose through the ranks of Czech Republic youth football, playing professionally for several Czech clubs such as Sparta Praha (2013-2015), Slovan Liberec (2018-2022), FC Slovacko (2022-2023), before returning to Vietnam to play for Hanoi Police FC from June 2023.

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