Story of naturalized players in Vietnam
The story of naturalized players joining the Vietnamese national team has been a topic that has created many conflicting opinions for over a decade.
Contrary to the wave of support for overseas Vietnamese players, fans are still divided into two streams of praise and criticism towards naturalized players (not of Vietnamese blood) thanks to a long enough period of living and playing football in Vietnam.
Vietnamese football in general and V.League in particular have witnessed nearly 10 naturalized players. Tran Trung Hieu (Kizito) or Hoang Vu Samson (Samson Kayode Olaleye) are still playing in V.League for Binh Duong and Quang Nam clubs.
In addition, Huynh Kesley Alves - one of the top strikers in V.League history not long ago still took to the field to play for the Ho Chi Minh City Youth team, even though he was over 40 years old at that time.
Nguyen Trung Dai Duong or Nguyen Van Bakel once played for Thanh Hoa or Can Tho clubs. Nguyen Van Bakel left an even stronger mark when he retired, because he - in the role of a player broker - had some influence on Doan Van Hau's move to the Netherlands to play in 2019.
Currently, the above faces all have lives or careers closely related to Vietnam.
The players themselves or the clubs involved also benefit from naturalization, because the team can take advantage of the quota of foreign-born Vietnamese players (1 quota/team) in V.League or First Division. Thanks to that, the registration of the remaining allowed foreign player quota (3-5 quotas depending on the historical period of V.League) is also fully utilized by the clubs.
Unfinished in Vietnam team
Not only stopping at the V.League framework, some outstanding naturalized players have been given the opportunity to join the Vietnam national team.
Phan Van Santos - the goalkeeper who helped Long An win the V.League championship in 2005 and 2006 became the first foreign player to wear the Vietnamese national team jersey.
The goalkeeper born in 1977 was called up by coach Henrique Calisto to the national team to prepare for the AFF Cup 2008, and also marked a special milestone when he first played in a friendly match with Olympic Brazil on August 1, 2008.
After that, Phan Van Santos continued to play in 4 friendly matches of the Vietnam team. However, after a mistake that caused the team to lose 2-3 to Turkmenistan in the 2008 Ho Chi Minh City International Football Cup, Santos proactively asked to leave the team due to family reasons.
Even when coach Henrique Calisto earnestly called Santos up to the Vietnamese national team before the 2008 AFF Cup took place, the goalkeeper still refused.
However, Santos still has the “price” of a naturalized player, considering the number of matches played for the Vietnam national team. Because, the following cases such as Dinh Hoang La, Dinh Hoang Max or Huynh Kesley Alves only appeared in the national team for a short time, with only 1-2 matches and then quickly disappeared. Since then, there has been no more naturalized foreign player wearing the Vietnam national team shirt.
Hoang Vu Samson - the V.League's record scorer with more than 200 goals - has expressed his desire to play for the Vietnam national team at least three times. But his request has never been realized.
Recently, the story of Rafaelson applying for Vietnamese citizenship has only stopped at the level of... completing the procedure. Nam Dinh Club registered this player with the Vietnamese name Nguyen Xuan Son, but he cannot compete in round 1 of V.League 2024-2025 because he does not have Vietnamese nationality.
Therefore, the desire of some fans for Rafaelson to wear the Vietnamese national team jersey is still an ellipsis.
