Vietnam Football: Hope from the wave of overseas Vietnamese players

Although the VFF Executive Committee has not officially given the reason for such a change in the policy of using foreign players of Vietnamese origin, also known as overseas Vietnamese players, this is certainly related to the strong rise of foreign players in Indonesian football in recent times.

Since the V-League still applied the rule of 1 overseas Vietnamese player (with or without Vietnamese nationality), the professional playground has witnessed the significant appearance of players with foreign origins, but in reality, the number of truly capable players can be counted on the fingers, and coincidentally, they are all in the goalkeeper position, with Dang Van Lam, Patrik Le Giang and Filip Nguyen.

Except for Patrik Le Giang, both Dang Van Lam and Filip Nguyen are members of the Vietnamese national team, and Van Lam is the key figure in the successful years of the Vietnamese national team under coach Park Hang Seo.

Many other overseas Vietnamese players are not so lucky, as many are unemployed after the 2023/24 season ends, such as Ryan Ha whose contract was rejected by Hanoi FC, Truong Quoc Minh who had to leave Quang Nam and SHB Da Nang who said goodbye to centre-back Steven Dang Thanh Hoang, even though coach Truong Viet Hoang's team is in dire need of centre-backs.

In addition, Adriano Schmidt, Viktor Le or Martin Lo have not left many strong impressions at their home team in the 2023/24 season, and even if they are retained for the 2024/25 season, it will be difficult for them to have a truly important position.

V-League still really needs overseas Vietnamese players with real class and quality like Filip Nguyen or Patrik Le Giang, but not only in the goalkeeper position but also in many other roles on the field such as defender or midfielder, and especially striker.

The number of overseas Vietnamese players playing football abroad is still a resource that Vietnamese football has not been able to fully exploit and utilize for many different reasons, and the recent decision to increase the number of overseas Vietnamese players by the 6th VFF Executive Committee, term IX (term 2022-2026) could create a significant turning point.

Surely there will be more overseas Vietnamese players paying attention to V-League after the successes of Dang Van Lam, Filip Nguyen or Patrik Le Giang, and the return of these overseas children is expected to help Vietnamese football improve, not only with V-League but also with the national team.

The name that fans are looking forward to in the upcoming V-League 2024/25 is Jason Pendant Quang Vinh. This Vietnamese-American defender's club, Quevilly-Rouen Metropole, was relegated last season, and there are many rumors that Quang Vinh will most likely come to play football in the V-League.

Quang Vinh himself once shared: "If I have citizenship and all the legal documents, then the head coach of the Vietnamese team can talk to me. For me, the two words Vietnam have a very big meaning. Vietnam is a part of my heart. That is where my mother was born and raised."

It would be ideal if V-League had more players who were trained in an advanced European football background like Quang Vinh, and therefore the policy of increasing the registration quota for overseas Vietnamese players in V-League is considered very timely and sensitive.