Vietnamese football is far behind other countries in the region in exporting players abroad.

White space in the international arena

In the past, although not prominent, Vietnamese football always had players going abroad to play for foreign clubs. In 2001, Le Huynh Duc played for Lifan Chongqing Club under a loan contract from Ho Chi Minh City Police Club. Player Luong Trung Tuan, who was banned from playing in Vietnam, also found a place to play for Thai Port Club in 2003. Striker Nguyen Viet Thang also went to Europe to play for Porto B Club in 2005. Then, striker Le Cong Vinh played abroad twice for Leixoes SC Club (Portugal) in 2009 and Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo (Japan) in 2013.

The trend of Vietnamese football exporting players officially blossomed from the end of 2015 when Mr. Duc's "youngsters" began to mature. Mr. Duc sent Cong Phuong and Tuan Anh to Mito HollyHock FC, Yokohama FC (J-League 2, Japan), Xuan Truong joined Incheon United Club (K-League 1) under loan contracts... That was part of the dream of Vietnamese players playing football at foreign clubs that Mr. Duc invested heavily in football academies.

From left to right: Cong Phuong, Quang Hai, Van Hau all played unsuccessfully abroad.

After that, Hanoi FC also created conditions for Van Hau to try his hand at Heerenveen FC (Netherlands, 2019-2020 season). Quang Hai found his way to France to play for Pau FC (2022-2024)... In January 2023, Van Toan went to Seoul E-land FC (K-League 2, Korea) and Cong Phuong went to Yokohama FC (J-League 1, Japan) on a free transfer. Van Toan returned to Vietnam in September 2023, after a season with 9 appearances and 388 minutes of play. On September 15, Cong Phuong officially said goodbye to Yokohama FC with only 3 appearances in the Emperor's Cup after 2 seasons in Japan.

This is the fourth time Cong Phuong has tried his hand abroad without success, and it is also a common failure of Vietnam's dream of exporting players. Statistics from the Target Man website, sourced from Soccerway about players playing in the top 80 football countries in the world , show that Vietnam no longer has any players. This makes us lose to Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Timor Leste when each country has 2 players. At the same time, we are far behind other countries, because the Philippines has 22 players, Indonesia 21 players, Thailand 12 players playing abroad.

Most trips fail.

Up to now, it can be seen that most Vietnamese players who have gone abroad to play have not been successful, except for goalkeeper Van Lam when he played for Muangthong United Club (Thailand).

Not only did they fail professionally, but Vietnamese players also did not gain much benefit from taking the risk of "bringing the bell to play in foreign lands".

Cong Phuong, who is considered to have the highest income, only receives 200,000 USD/season (about 5 billion VND) when playing in Japan. At Pau FC, Quang Hai receives about 100,000 USD/season (about 2.5 billion VND). This figure is far lower than the 24 billion VND that Cong Phuong is asking for for 3 years playing at a club in the Vietnamese first division. Similarly, when returning to Vietnam, Quang Hai's income at a domestic club is also 3 times higher than when playing for Pau FC. In addition, the risk from cultural barriers is also the reason why Vietnamese players have not been successful when playing abroad, besides, they have difficulty integrating into a professional competitive environment.

Unlike men's football, Vietnamese women's football has striker Huynh Nhu who has successfully gone abroad when she regularly played as a starter and scored goals during her 2 years playing for Lank Club in Portugal. Huynh Nhu is a pioneer in women's football, but she has achieved success because the general level of Vietnamese women's football is not too far behind that of other women's football teams.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bong-da-viet-nam-thua-xa-cac-nuoc-trong-khu-vuc-ve-xuat-ngoai-cau-thu-185240917154102536.htm