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List of Vietnam international footballers born outside Vietnam

This is a list of footballers who has represented the Vietnam national football team in international football and were born outside of Vietnam.

The following players:

  1. have one parent or grandparent who was born in Vietnam.
  2. were born outside Vietnam or were born in Vietnam but went abroad since during their childhood.

This list includes players who have dual citizenship with Vietnam and/or have become naturalized Vietnamese citizens. The players are ordered per modern-day country of birth; if the country at the time of birth differs from the current, this is indicated with a subsection.

List of international players

Từ Như Hiển was one of the first footballers born outside Vietnam to represent the latter. Born in New Caledonia, Hiển repartriated in 1963 and made his debut for North Vietnam national team in 1965 and played for the team until the 1970s.[1][2] However, since North Vietnam wasn't a member of FIFA and the AFC at the time, Hiển's records with the team weren't officially recognized by these organisations.

List of players born abroad that represented North Vietnam or South Vietnam:

Name Birthyear Place of birth National career Represented
Hoàng Ngọc Minh 1932  Laos (Thakhek) 1958–1960  North Vietnam
Từ Như Thành 1943  New Caledonia (New Caledonia) 196?–196?  North Vietnam
Từ Như Hiển 1945  New Caledonia (New Caledonia) 1965–197?  North Vietnam
Đỗ Cẩu 1946  Cambodia (Phnom Penh) 1972–1975  South Vietnam
Vương Tiến Dũng 1952  Thailand (Nong Khai) 196?–197?  North Vietnam

Since the reunified Vietnam national football team rejoined the international stage in 1991, the players born abroad with Vietnamese heritage, referred as the Việt kiều were always considered as an important part of team as many of them trained and played in countries where football is more developed than in Vietnam. The most notable players are Russian-born goalkeeper Đặng Văn Lâm, who contributed in Vietnam's successful 2018 AFF Championship and 2019 AFC Asian Cup campaign; and goalkeeper Nguyễn Filip, who started for Vietnam at the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.[3][4][5] During a short period between 2008 and 2009, the Vietnam Football Federation allowed naturalized players without Vietnamese heritage to represent the country but reverted this decision shortly after, in order to "preserve national identity" in the team.[6][7][8]

The list below includes players who represented the Vietnam national football team but were not born in the country. These players can have dual citizenship with Vietnam and/or have become naturalised Vietnamese citizens. The players are ordered per their national team debut.

As of 5 January 2025
No. Name Birthyear Place of birth Vietnamese ancestry National career Caps Goals
1 Nguyễn Liêm Thanh 1972  Cambodia (Phnom Penh) Maternal 1995–1999 8 0
2 Phan Văn Santos 1977  Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) None (Naturalized) 2008–2009 2 0
3 Đinh Hoàng La 1979  Ukraine[a] (Kyiv) None (Naturalized) 2009 1 0
4 Đinh Hoàng Max 1986  Nigeria (Abuja) None (Naturalized) 2009 1 0
5 Huỳnh Kesley Alves 1981  Brazil (Palmeiras) None (Naturalized) 2009 1 0
6 Nguyễn Michal 1989  Czech Republic[b] (Litvínov) Paternal 2013 2 0
7 Đặng Văn Lâm 1993  Russia (Moscow) Paternal 2015–present 44 0
8 Bùi Đức Duy 1994  Germany (Grimma) Paternal 2022 1 0
9 Nguyễn Filip 1992  Czech Republic[b] (Prague) Paternal 2024–present 11 0
10 Nguyễn Xuân Son 1997  Brazil (Pirapemas) None (Naturalized) 2024–present 5 7

Youth internationals

The players in the following list represented Vietnam at youth level.

Name Birthyear Place of birth Vietnamese ancestry Youth national team Youth national career
Đặng Văn Lâm 1993  Russia (Moscow) Paternal  Vietnam U-19 2011
Mạc Hồng Quân 1989  Vietnam (Hải Dương)[c] Full  Vietnam U-23 2012–2015
Lò Martin 1997  Australia (Sydney) Full  Vietnam U-23 2020
Lê Khắc Viktor 2003  Russia (Moscow) Paternal  Vietnam U-23 2025–

Notes

  1. ^ At the time part of the  Soviet Union
  2. ^ a b At the time part of  Czechoslovakia
  3. ^ Born in Vietnam, but grew up in  Czech Republic

References

General

Specific

  1. ^ "Đội tuyển Công an Hà Nội và cái duyên với những Việt kiều". cand.com (in Vietnamese). 17 August 2023.
  2. ^ Phạm, Trần Oánh (15 September 2023). "Vĩnh biệt huyền thoại bóng đá Từ Như Hiển" [Farewell to football legend Từ Như Hiển] (in Vietnamese). Dân Việt.
  3. ^ Bảo, Tiểu; Lao, Giang (19 February 2022). "Cần cú hích đúng cho lộ trình nhập tịch" [Need the right push for the naturalization route]. Thanh Niên (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  4. ^ Duy, Nhật; Quỳnh, Hoàng (20 February 2022). "Tài năng Việt kiều: Khi nào có thể nhập tịch cho cầu thủ bóng đá?" [Talented overseas Vietnamese: When can a football player be naturalized?]. Thanh Niên (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  5. ^ Hung, Dong (18 November 2021). "Đội tuyển Việt Nam: để chơi tầm châu lục cần có thêm cầu thủ nhập tịch" [Vietnam team: to play on the continental level, more naturalized players are needed]. Kinh tế đô thị (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  6. ^ Thuỳ Anh (17 June 2017). "VFF lên tiếng việc tuyển Việt Nam không gọi cầu thủ nhập tịch" [VFF speaks about Vietnam not calling up naturalized players] (in Vietnamese). Dân Trí.
  7. ^ Nhật Duy (14 May 2019). "VFF nói 'không' với việc gọi cầu thủ nhập tịch lên tuyển Việt Nam" [VFF says “no” about calling up naturalized players to the Vietnamese national team] (in Vietnamese). Thanh Niên.
  8. ^ Minh Phong (14 September 2024). "Chuyện cầu thủ nhập tịch ở đội tuyển Việt Nam" [The issue of naturalization in the Vietnamese national team] (in Vietnamese). Lao Động.