Ahead of the 2025-2026 season, the transfer market in V.League witnessed a trend of overseas Vietnamese players coming to Vietnam.
Familiar names such as Kevin Pham Ba (Nam Dinh), Nguyen Filip, Jason Quang Vinh, Adou Minh (Hanoi Police), Pierre Lamothe (Hanoi FC) continue to compete in the V.League.
In addition, many players are in the process of probation such as Vadim Nguyen and Dang Thanh Tung (SHB Da Nang), Kyle Colonna and Damian Vu Thanh (The Cong Viettel), Li Teng Long (Hanoi), Tomas Duong Thanh Tung (HCMC Police) ...
The quality of overseas Vietnamese players is somewhat different. Looking back at recent seasons, except for some special cases such as Filip Nguyen or Jason Quang Vinh - who soon affirmed their class at Hanoi Police as well as the national team, most overseas Vietnamese players have not left a clear mark in the V.League.
In reality, many players have received high expectations but cannot stay in the professional football environment in Vietnam. Many people have to sit on the bench for a long time, struggling to find an official position in their home team, such as Mark Huynh (Hai Phong), Zan Nguyen (HCMC), Kyle Colonna or Pierre Lamothe (Hanoi FC).
They come with the luggage of years of well-trained abroad, but lack an important factor of adaptability and the ability to immediately contribute to the team.
With new contracts, overseas Vietnamese players need to prove their true abilities on the pitch after the 2025-2026 season starts.
Even Chung Nguyen Do - a quality overseas Vietnamese player who is expected to join a V.League team - also needs time to demonstrate his ability, because the playing field, people and other factors in Vietnam are different from Europe.
The situation in the youth team has not had many breakthroughs. Some overseas Vietnamese players have participated in the U17, U19, and U23 Vietnam teams such as Maxwell Peeraboom, Thomas Mai Veeren, Andrej Nguyen An Khanh or Alex Bui... despite having a background from European training centers, they have mainly stopped at the testing level, did not leave a significant mark and often did not make the final list to participate in official tournaments.
The big challenge for overseas Vietnamese players is still their integration with playing style, culture and tactical requirements at domestic teams. This cannot be solved with just a few weeks of training.
Another reason comes from the process of searching and evaluating players. Compared to other countries in the region, the opportunity to discover and access Vietnamese-origin talents abroad still faces many limitations due to historical, geographical factors and investment resources.
Countries such as Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia have a large overseas Vietnamese community, have been settled for a long time and have been attached to the indigenous football scene since the early years. Thanks to that, "Crazy Europeans" or "Crazy Europeans" are often trained and competed professionally in high-quality environments such as Europe, Australia, Japan... before returning home.
Many "ORNAL" players from Thailand or Indonesia are even the pillars of the national team level, playing outstandingly in Asian tournaments and participating in youth World Cups.
Meanwhile, the training system for overseas Vietnamese players is mostly disjointed, lacking close connection with the domestic football system. The summonses or probationary period are mostly individual, without a long-term strategy.
Of course, it is undeniable that many overseas Vietnamese players have made efforts to seek opportunities and assert themselves in the Vietnamese football environment. V.League is still a potential destination for those who are truly determined and capable.
Filip Nguyen's case is the clearest proof. He played in the Czech Republic national championship, UEFA Europa League and when he returned, he immediately took the starting position at Hanoi Police as well as the Vietnam national team.
However, such stories are not yet popular. If Vietnamese football wants to exploit overseas Vietnamese resources more effectively, it is necessary to have a methodical strategy, from selecting, assessing expertise to building a mechanism. Only then will the appearance of overseas Vietnamese players truly be an added value, instead of just a media highlight or an unsustainable experimental plan.
In the context of increasingly fierce competition in Southeast Asia, overseas Vietnamese players, if invested in the right way and determined enough - can completely become a driving force for the ambition of Vietnamese football to reach far.
