Recently, the main striker Tran Thi Thanh Thuy moved to play for the PFU BlueCats team in Japan, after receiving the consent of her home club Binh Dien Long An. She is one of two foreign players, along with Melissa Valdes (Cuba), who was hired to play in the 2021-2022 season, starting from October 15.
After 3 matches, the 1.92m tall main striker of Vietnam has proven her ability when scoring 30 points for the team, ranking 2nd in the list of players with the most points.
This is the 4th time Tran Thi Thanh Thuy has gone abroad. 2 years ago, she played for another Japanese club - Denso Airybees. The excellent performance of Vietnamese athletes contributed significantly to helping the team stay in the Top 4 at the end of the season.
In October 2017, Thanh Thuy wore the attack Line team jersey of Taiwan (China). After 8 matches, she scored 147 points, the most in the team. Before that, Thanh Thuy and the Bangkok Glass team won the Thai championship in the 2015-16 season.
Thanh Thuy is one of two Vietnamese women's volleyball athletes who have been very successful abroad in recent years. The income she received from teams from Japan, Taiwan... was calculated in billions, commensurate with the talent of this river owner born in 1997.
Before Thanh Thuy, middle blocker Nguyen Thi Ngoc Hoa was a famous person for Vietnamese volleyball when going abroad. In 2013, this 1987-born athlete wore the shirt of the Ayutthaya A.T.CC team, which finished third in the Thai national championship, winning the Thai Super Cup. Individually, she received the title of best middle blocker of the tournament.
This stepping stone helped Ngoc Hoa enter the Bangkok Glass team. In this powerful team's jersey, the famous middle blocker of Vietnamese volleyball has won the Thai championship twice and the Asian championship once. Individually, she received the title of best middle blocker at the 2015 Asian Club Championship, a tournament that Bangkok Glass was crowned.
In 2016, she was honored to be the first volleyball player from Vietnam to compete in the World Club Championship, in the Thai team's jersey. Facing the best colleagues in the world, Ngoc Hoa still left her mark with a score of 43 points/5 matches, among the best playmakers in the tournament.
Compared to football, Vietnamese volleyball athletes go abroad much more successfully. Vietnamese players have been playing abroad for quite a while. However, Cong Phuong, Tuan Anh, Xuan Truong, Doan Van Hau... all had few opportunities to play. They play a lackluster role at clubs in Korea, Japan, Belgium or the Netherlands. These players later returned to Vietnam and have no return date yet.
Dang Van Lam was a mainstay of Muangthong United in Thailand, then moved to Cerezo Osaka in Japan. Lam "Tay" has made progress in his career but he has not been able to get a starting position at a Japanese club. The number of appearances he has made this season can be counted on the fingers. At this time, Van Lam is injured and will only return at the end of January 2022.
The most successful case of going abroad in the past few years is the case of striker Nguyen Huu Khoi. In 2018, he moved to Siheung City, scoring 5 goals/19 matches to help the team win the 5th Division championship in Korea. However, competing in such low leagues is not the goal of many Vietnamese football stars.
