Increasing the number of foreign players in V.League: Looking from reality

At the recent VPF conference, some clubs proposed increasing the number of foreign players registered for each team to 4-5 players, using 3 players on the field instead of registering 3 and using 3 players on the field as at present. In addition, there were also proposals for First Division clubs to also use 1 foreign player, increasing the number of teams participating in the V.League to 16 instead of 14, or increasing the number of teams participating in the First Division...

In general, increasing the number of foreign players in V.League will of course help teams increase their competitiveness in the continental arena. At the same time, it will help Vietnamese players have the opportunity to compete and play with high-level players, promoting the professional quality of the tournament.

However, the disadvantage of this is that the financial pressure will be placed on many clubs and cause the tournament to lose balance, especially for clubs that are focusing on youth training, looking for ways to create development opportunities for talents. Obviously, increasing the number of foreign players also significantly reduces the opportunities for young Vietnamese talents, due to the gap in level, physique, pressure on achievements...

For developed football teams, before thinking about opening the door to foreign players, those football teams have already achieved balance and a solid enough youth football foundation. That is, the foundation for a house is solid, so welcoming more players from many countries to compete is a completely beneficial thing.

On the other hand, the quality of the foreign players coming to Vietnam footballThe past time is really a big question mark. There are too many clubs “losing money and suffering” because of poor quality foreign players, but the cost of salaries and signing bonuses is still sky high, while taking care of facilities, youth training, and coaching staff still depends on the budget or is still very modest.

For example, in Thailand, the Thai League is open to foreign players, but young Thai players have many more playgrounds and opportunities to develop compared to Vietnamese talents. In fact, the Thai League is focusing on opening its doors to Southeast Asian players, attracting regional stars to play and helping to improve the quality of the tournament, while still controlling the number of foreign players from Europe, Africa, America, etc.

Specifically, each Thai League team will be allowed to register a maximum of 7 foreign players and unlimited players from Southeast Asia. A maximum of 5 foreign players and 2 Southeast Asian players will be used on the field.

In Japan, the most developed football in Asia, this country has a youth training foundation and countless young talents are nurtured and given opportunities early, but there are also appropriate policies, separate from their development.

Specifically, J.League teams were previously only allowed to register a maximum of 4 foreign players, including 3 unlimited foreign players and 1 player from Southeast Asia. However, from 2021, J.League has decided to remove the restriction on the number of foreign players each team can register. J.League teams are allowed to register unlimited foreign players, but the number of foreign players on the field at the same time cannot exceed 5 people.

Most Japanese clubs only focus on attracting Southeast Asian and Korean stars and rarely use unrestricted foreign players. This comes from the development awareness and policy of nurturing young talents of the clubs here. Many clubs only use players they have trained but are still not inferior to clubs in Asia that have many foreign players.

Recently, Nam Dinh Steel Club with 7-8 foreign players on the field was still completely inferior to Japan's Hiroshima Club with only 1 foreign player. In the domestic league, this club has 1 Brazilian foreign player, 1 German foreign player, 1 French foreign player and 1 Korean goalkeeper. Similar to many other clubs, there is no limit on foreign players but no club registered more than 5 players. The reason is very simple, because foreign players in Japan are not much better than Japanese players.

Thus, increasing the number of foreign players is a matter of time, of course, it is necessary to integrate and open up in the future. The important thing is whether all the teams in the V.League have really focused on the foundation of youth training, financial preparation, quality of domestic players... to confidently welcome more foreign players or not. If the number of foreign player registrations increases but the teams still prefer to shop, "eat ready-made" instead of training their own players, it is also going against the development trend of football. That is also the reason why developed football countries in the world seek financial fair play./.