VietNamNet Bridge - The return of old foreign players to V-League, Vietnam’s top football tournament, is seen by many as a step backwards for Vietnam football.

Since businesspeople began investing in football, the V-League has become a "paradise" in the eyes of foreign football players, particularly those from Africa. Oloya Moses of Binh Duong FC said that his one-year income in Vietnam is equivalent to that of 60 years in his homeland of Uganda.

It is undeniable that foreign players have contributed to the quality of football clubs in Vietnam in the past 14 years, since the V-League was launched. A coach once even asserted that foreign players are responsible for up to 80 percent of the success of Vietnamese FCs.

Among the foreign players who have been bought in the transfer market this year, no one is outstanding.

The reason is that the FCs buy players from each other and they only use foreign players who used to play in Vietnam. This causes the V-League to lack freshness and the quality certainly declines when the number of foreign players past the age of over 30 is rising, such as Nastja Ceh, Nguyen Rogerio, Phan Van Santos and others.

The "aging" of foreign players in the 2014 V-League also shows through the return of players who have not played football for 5-6 years. At the 2003 football season, goalkeeper Nguyen Quoc Thien Duong Esele played for Binh Duong, at the age of 29. This goalkeeper of Nigerian origin played very well for Nam Dinh in 2003 and 2004. In the subsequent years, he was granted Vietnamese citizenship and moved to Hoa Phat Ha Noi and Ha Noi ACB.

Esele returned home in 2011, but financial difficulties forced him back to Vietnam to seek a job. After three years not playing football, he was very awkward in several games of Binh Duong at V-League 2014, but now he is the number one goalkeeper of this team and of the V-League.

Nigerian-born striker Dang Amaobi, who also emerged as a star in 2004, was thought to be a has-been after being transferred through seven FCs from 2004 to 2012. After two years of disappearance, though, he unexpectedly joined Thanh Hoa in the second phase of V-League 2014, at the age of 33.

But the most shocking comeback belongs to former the V-League top scorer in 2007 and 2008, Almeida. The former striker of Da Nang suffered a serious wound in 2009 and was expected never to be able to play football again. However, after five years of absence, the Brazilian striker has re-appeared in the jersey of Quang Nam in the second stage of V-League.

Nam Nguyen