List of quality foreign players of V.League 2020, SLNA completely renewed

This year, each team is allowed to use 3 foreign players and 1 naturalized player. Of the 42 foreign players registered by the teams to the tournament's Organizing Committee, 19 have never played in the V.League. Specifically, 12/14 teams participating in the V.League use new foreign players.

Song Lam Nghe An is a team that has replaced all foreign players, one of the three players used to play in the V.League. That is center back Gustavo Santos, who played for Viettel and Saigon last season. The two strikers of SLNA are also national players of Nigeria and Gambia.

List of foreign and naturalized players in V.League 2020. Photo: Wiki

With the determination to restore the image of Thanh Hoa football, this year Thanh Hoa Club brought in 4 foreign players, including 1 naturalized player. The most notable is the former V.League top scorer - striker Hoang Vu Samson. The remaining faces are also of high caliber such as center back Louis Ewonde (from Ho Chi Minh City Club), midfielder Josip Balic (FK Palanga) and striker Grace Tanda (Gefle).

Among the new players coming to Vietnam for the first time in V.League 2020, Viettel continues to be the team that owns quality faces such as center back Luizao. This player used to play in Brazil's Serie A or Caique - a foreign player who used to play in Thai League 1.

After many years of struggling with foreign players, HAGL has also spent a lot of money on foreign players. In addition to successfully recruiting Damir Memovic from SLNA, the mountain town team also got the signature of Kelly Kester, a player who was called up to the Nigerian youth team and played for many years in the African Champions League.

HAGL's foreign players this year are considered to be of high quality. Photo: HAGL FC

Ho Chi Minh City FC is a team that is actively looking for new foreign players, but the way they select foreign players is quite fast. They select quality players with high transfer fees, check their health, and sign contracts without a trial.

The most impressive player of Ho Chi Minh City FC is the 1m94 tall center-back Pape Diakite, who played for many years in Belgium and the US. In attack, Ho Chi Minh City FC uses striker Amido Balde, a former Celtic player and former teammate of Van Dijk. This player just shone at the 2020 AFC Cup with 2 goals in the match in Singapore.

After many years of preferring American or European foreign players, this year SHB Da Nang registered Jelić, a central defender who has played for many years in the AFC Champions League, striker Ismahil Akinade (Nigeria) and striker Nsiah who used to play in the Romanian National Championship. In particular, Ismahil Akinade is a former player of Ho Chi Minh City Club last season.

Hanoi FC did not spend much time selecting foreign players and only brought in Romario from Thanh Hoa. Photo: VPF

As for the new recruit Hong Linh Ha Tinh, coach Pham Minh Duc's team recruited all 3 foreign players from Brazil and they are all players coming to Vietnam for the first time. Nam Dinh Club, besides striker Do Merlo, also owns a Burkina Faso national team player and a striker who used to play in Denmark.

Hai Phong FC and Quang Ninh FC are still the most meticulous teams in foreign player transfers. Competing in the AFC Cup 2020 alongside the V.League, Than Quang Ninh brought in the foreign duo of Hai Phong, Andre Fagan and Jermie Lynch. As for Hai Phong, the port city team surprisingly recruited Claudecir, the best foreign player of the V.League 2017 in the Quang Nam FC shirt with 12 goals.

Among the 14 V.League teams, only Hanoi FC is the most leisurely in the early season transfer market. Saying goodbye to 3 domestic players and foreign players Oseni and Moshkelpour, coach Chu Dinh Nghiem only brought in 3 domestic players from Hong Linh Ha Tinh and striker Gordon Rimario from Thanh Hoa FC, without a trial.

Thus, only nearly half of the foreign players from last season remained. Only Hanoi, Quang Nam, and Saigon kept the 2019 squad. The wave of players from Brazil is returning strongly (accounting for 38% excluding naturalized players), with up to 3 teams having foreign players of Brazilian nationality.

Song Lam Nghe An officially finalizes 3 foreign players for V.League 2020

(Baonghean.vn) – Nghe An football team officially recruited 2 foreign strikers and 1 foreign central defender for the 2020 season. Including a striker from the U23 Nigeria team and a Gambian player.