Regional press went crazy when Rafaelson - Nguyen Xuan Son successfully naturalized as Vietnamese

The decision to recognize Brazilian striker Rafaelson as a Vietnamese citizen has created a stir in the Southeast Asian media.

In August 2024, the Department of Justice of Nam Dinh province received Bezerra Fernandes' application for Vietnamese citizenship. After studying and examining the application, the Department of Justice of Nam Dinh province coordinated with the Nam Dinh Provincial Police and the Brazilian Embassy in Hanoi to look up and verify the identity of Rafaelson Bezerra Fernandes. On September 20, the striker currently playing for Nam Dinh Club was officially recognized as a Vietnamese citizen. Rafaelson will also be registered by the Nam Dinh team in the new season as a naturalized player, named Nguyen Xuan Son. In Indonesia, the news that Nguyen Xuan Son officially became a Vietnamese citizen unexpectedly received a lot of attention. On sites such as CNN Indonesia , Bola Times or Suara , articles about Nguyen Xuan Son were all in the top 3 most read sports articles in 24 hours in Indonesia.

Indonesian media pays special attention when Nguyen Xuan Son officially becomes a Vietnamese citizen

PHOTO: NAM DINH CLUB

CNN Indonesia commented: “Vietnam has officially naturalized Brazilian player Rafaelson. The mentioned character has also changed his name to Nguyen Xuan Son. After 5 years playing in the Brazilian league, Nguyen Xuan Son moved to Japan to play for Vegalta Sendai in 2018. He then moved to the Danish league to play for the Naestved Club. Nguyen Xuan Son's journey in Vietnam began in 2020. His extremely high goal-scoring capacity and his current career maturity are probably convincing reasons for Vietnam to naturalize this 27-year-old player. Nguyen Xuan Son's presence is also expected to greatly increase the attacking power of the Vietnamese team if he is called up to the national team.” Meanwhile, Bola Times devoted 3 articles to analyzing the impact that Nguyen Xuan Son can bring to Vietnamese football. Bola Times reporters commented: “The naturalization project in Southeast Asia is not only carried out by the Indonesian national team, but the Vietnamese team has also taken similar actions. This is a positive thing, which can increase the strength of the team, but it is still unclear whether Nguyen Xuan Son will be called up to the Vietnamese team in upcoming tournaments. The presence of Nguyen Xuan Son has been long-awaited by Vietnamese fans, especially coach Kim Sang-sik. Nguyen Xuan Son is very familiar with Vietnamese football when he has been with the V-League for the past 5 years. This 1.85 m tall player has been in top form, scoring 71 goals in the Vietnamese domestic league. Hopefully his brilliant form will continue, increasing the strength of the Vietnamese team's attack.”

Rafaelson will participate in V-League 2024 - 2025 as a naturalized player

PHOTO: NAM DINH CLUB

In Thailand, Nguyen Xuan Son's Vietnamese citizenship is also of interest. Thai Rath newspaper commented: "Rafaelson - the top scorer of the V-League, breaking a series of records last season, has officially acquired Vietnamese citizenship. This is a player with great potential, has proven his ability over the years and will certainly upgrade the Vietnamese national team's attack if called up. The AFF Cup at the end of the year is also expected to be more attractive when the Vietnamese team becomes even stronger."

Thai media believes that the presence of Nguyen Xuan Son will help coach Kim Sang-sik's team become more fearsome.

"For more than a year, this player has always expressed his desire to wear the national team jersey and now that is about to become a reality. In addition to solving the problem of scoring goals for coach Kim Sang-sik's team, Rafaelson promises to be able to motivate strikers who are familiar to Southeast Asian audiences such as Tien Linh and Tuan Hai to play even more explosively," Thai Rath concluded. On Facebook, the ASEAN Football page with more than 500,000 followers also mentioned that Nguyen Xuan Son has Vietnamese nationality. Within just 3 hours of posting, this information also received tens of thousands of interactions, becoming the "hottest" post of the day on the page.

ASEAN Football page also mentioned that Nguyen Xuan Son has Vietnamese nationality.

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ASEAN Football wrote: “Striker Rafaelson has officially completed his naturalization process and will be eligible to play under the Vietnamese name Nguyen Xuan Son, starting from round 2 of the 2024-2025 V-League season. With his proven class, he is ready to bring even more strength to the Vietnamese team.”

Thanhnien.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bao-chi-khu-vuc-phat-sot-khi-rafaelson-nguyen-xuan-son-nhap-tich-viet-nam-thanh-cong-185240921163023333.htm