With the desire to improve the quality of both squads, the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) leaders and coach Park Hang-seo have affirmed that they will seriously consider and create favourable conditions for talented foreign-born Vietnamese players who want to contribute to the country's football.

Czech-born goalkeeper Filip Nguyen is one among the overseas Vietnamese players who have gained the most attention at the moment.

Along with the strong development of Vietnamese football over the past year, overseas Vietnamese players wishing to come to Vietnam to compete in the domestic leagues or showing a desire to contribute to the national teams is on a positive trend.

It is possible to mention the faces that have returned to play for domestic teams and partly show their abilities and qualities as midfielder Adriano Schmidt (Germany) of V.League 1’s Hai Phong FC, Australian-born striker Martin Lo of second tier Pho Hien FC, Russian-born goalkeeper Dang Van Lam, and striker Mac Hong Quan (Czech Republic).

However, there are still unfortunate cases when the players do not meet the professional requirements or face difficulties in integrating into the new football environment despite enjoying favourable conditions when returning to Vietnam.

According to VFF Secretary General Le Hoai Anh, the federation is always ready to create the best conditions and welcome other overseas Vietnamese players returning home to contribute to the national teams, as long as they fully meet the professional requirements of the coaching staff and legal conditions to play for the Vietnam national teams in accordance with FIFA’s rules.

According to information from the VFF, this weekend, coach Park will travel to Europe to scout and meet several overseas Vietnamese players who are on the list synthesised by the VFF’s professional department. Among them, four European players including Alexander Dang (Norway), Kelvin Bui (Netherlands), Jason Pendant (France) and Filip Nguyen (Czech Republic) are the most prominent names.

Park also agreed with the VFF’s leaders to be ready to welcome Vietnamese talents meeting the two conditions that are they must possess real talent and the desire to contribute to the national teams.

“As the person responsible for the team's expertise, I cannot select a player who does not want to play for the national teams, and also cannot choose that player solely because he is playing in Europe. So I need to directly observe the overseas Vietnamese players to get the most accurate assessment of their abilities,” Park affirmed.

The 60-year-old Korean strategist will act as the decisive voice in the selection of personnel for the teams. "From the opinions of Park, the VFF will gradually make contact and support within the allowable scope to help such overseas Vietnamese players to quickly and smoothly play for Vietnam," Le Hoai Anh said.

With the progression of Vietnamese football, talents who are competing abroad could be considered as a potential resource for VFF to supplement the squads. However, careful consideration is needed to give the opportunity to those who are full of aspirations as well as having the capacity to secure a slot in the national teams.

The Vietnam senior and U23 squads will be announced later this month. The senior team will compete at the King’s Cup in Thailand from June 5 to 8, while the U23s will play a friendly against Myanmar in Hanoi on June 7.

Nhan Dan