But if you want to develop volleyball in the long term and improve your skills, you must do it professionally, not in the short term.
Who was the first person to arrive in Vietnam?
The person considered the earliest foreign player to come to Vietnam to compete in our national volleyball championship is former Thai player Supachai Jitjumroon.
This talented middle blocker came to Vietnam around 2005 and played successfully with the Trang An Ninh Binh men's team (now LPBank Ninh Binh). Even later, to ensure that they could have foreign player Supachai Jitjumroon on the field without violating the competition regulations (each team can only send one foreign player to the field), Ninh Binh volleyball team naturalized this player under the name Dinh Hoang Chai.
In 2022, the Vietnam Volleyball Federation will allow foreign players to return to compete in the national championship after 10 years of limiting foreign players (since 2012). Many men's and women's teams in Vietnam immediately spent the cost of transferring foreign players to compete in our team. However, no one has built a long-term solution for foreign players, only hiring players at specific times of each competition period to solve professional results.
The only case currently in Vietnam under a long-term contract is Thai player Tichaya Boonlert with the Duc Giang Lao Cai Chemicals team. The contract signed by this player was revealed to be valid for 5 years.
Can't... snatch
In professional volleyball, players are required to sign contracts for a minimum of one season and possibly longer. That is why the main striker Tran Thi Thanh Thuy went to Türkiye to play under a full season contract (lasting 10 months). When Thanh Thuy went to Japan to play for PFU Blue Cats, she also had a 2-year contract.
“Everyone can see that all professional Thai players when going abroad sign long-term contracts with the team they go to. Because of that, the players can play stably and ensure their expertise. The problem is not necessarily in the budget because many teams in Vietnam can spend a lot of money to hire players to play for a few weeks to serve a round of the national championship, but not many famous players abroad agree. They need professionalism, not timing,” an expert in volleyball player transfers in Vietnam shared.
Looking back at the number of foreign players who have come to Vietnam in the past 2 years (since 2022), there are no outstanding players. If not, the foreign players (male and female) who came to Vietnam compete at an average level in terms of expertise.
Hitter Polina Rahimova (Azerbaijan) was highly rated, but she once came to Thai Binh women's volleyball for 3 weeks to compete in the second phase of the 2022 National Volleyball Championship. In 2023, Polina Rahimova also came to Vietnam in the second phase of the 2023 National Volleyball Championship for 3 weeks wearing the Duc Giang Lao Cai Chemical women's team. At that time, the above player had not found a team to play for, so she accepted to come to Vietnam to compete and earn income. In 2024, Polina Rahimova had a contract in Brazil, so she certainly did not agree with any team in Vietnam that wanted to recruit her.
Economic issues make football teams calculate when they want to hire foreign players. Many teams have built plans to hire a foreign player for the season (10 months) in Vietnam. However, no team has been able to do it.
At present, the transfer fee for foreign players to play in Vietnam is no less than 5,000 USD/month. This is a burden for teams without sponsorship. For example, Polina Rahimova came to play for the Thai Binh women's team in 2022 and the home team was revealed to have spent a total of more than 45,000 USD. At that time, player Moma Bassoko (Cameroon) came to play for the Duc Giang Lao Cai Chemicals team at a significant cost. With such a high cost, finding long-term funding if the player stays in Vietnam for the entire season is not easy.
