Vietnamese football is about to run out of overseas players

Striker Nguyen Cong Phuong has reached an agreement to terminate his contract with Yokohama FC. After two seasons playing for the Japanese team, Cong Phuong has not been able to play in either J-League 1 or J-League 2. It is currently unclear whether the striker born in 1995 will choose to return home or seek opportunities in another country. But certainly, Cong Phuong will not stay in Japan.

Thanh Nien Newspaper's source revealed: Cong Phuong has been targeted by a number of Vietnamese football teams. In the coming days, the 29-year-old striker will consider a new destination.

If Cong Phuong returns home, this will be the first time since 2018 that Vietnamese football no longer has any representatives playing abroad.

Cong Phuong says goodbye to Yokohama FC

The most recent time Vietnamese players "massively" went abroad to try their hand was early 2019, when Cong Phuong moved to Incheon United, Dang Van Lam tried his hand at Muangthong United and Luong Xuan Truong played for Buriram United. In July 2019, Cong Phuong went to Belgium to play for Sint-Truidense. In September 2019, Doan Van Hau went to SC Heerenveen.

In 2020, while Cong Phuong and Van Hau both returned home, Van Lam was the only star who was still persistently looking for opportunities in developed football. The goalkeeper born in 1993 moved from Muangthong (Thailand) to Cerezo Osaka (Japan) in January 2021 and had 2 seasons with this team. By mid-2022, when Van Lam returned home, it was Quang Hai's turn to go to France to play for Pau FC. However, Quang Hai only stayed for 1 season, then returned to Vietnam to play for the Hanoi Police Club.

When Quang Hai returned home, Cong Phuong became the last Vietnamese player still playing for a foreign team, with a contract to play for Yokohama FC.

However, coach Philippe Troussier once commented that Cong Phuong "didn't really go abroad" because he didn't have the opportunity to play. In the past 2 years, the 29-year-old striker played less than 40 minutes in total, not playing a single full match for the Japanese representative. And now if Cong Phuong returns home, Vietnamese football will have no players playing for foreign clubs for the first time in 6 years.

Stars like Tuan Hai (in white) choose to stay at their home club to receive high bonuses, instead of going abroad to play.

Looking at women's football, Huynh Nhu played successfully at Lank FC, scoring and assisting regularly for 2 seasons, contributing greatly to helping the Portuguese team stay in the league. As for men's football, Van Lam is the only one to stay for more than 1 season at a club (Muangthong United). The remaining players all "finished their exams and returned home".

Some stars who received offers to go abroad, such as Nguyen Hoang Duc and Pham Tuan Hai, chose to stay in the V-League, with high salaries and contract fees. The pillars of the national team have not shown any intention of trying their luck abroad again.

With 100% of the players playing domestically, the Vietnamese team is very different from Thailand and Indonesia. While Thai players are constantly being "exported" to Japan, some of Indonesia's native stars have or are trying their hand in Korea, and the naturalized players of the archipelago team are all playing in the US or Europe.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cong-phuong-co-the-ve-nuoc-bong-da-viet-nam-sap-sach-bong-cau-thu-xuat-ngoai-185240916185945918.htm