THAILAND : LEADING THE TREND EARLY
Naturalizing foreign players was an early trend in the development of Asian football in general and Southeast Asia in particular. The "golden generation" of Vietnamese football with Huynh Duc, Hong Son, Do Khai... must still remember the most formidable striker in the region at that time: Natipong Sritong-In (also known as Alfred). Natipong was born in Bangkok (Thailand), studied football in France and had a Vietnamese grandmother. Of the 25 goals in 55 matches for the Thai national team, the striker born in 1972 scored 6 goals against the Vietnamese national team, the highlight of which was a double in the final match that helped the "War Elephants" win the SEA Games Chiang Mai 1995 gold medal and a double that stopped us in the semi-finals of the Tiger Cup 1996. It can be said that Natipong is the biggest nemesis of the Vietnamese defense in regional tournaments.
Indonesian football advances strongly thanks to naturalized players
Thai football then continued to promote the policy of using naturalized players with Jamie Wawite (born 1986) debuting in 2002; Charyl Chappuis (1992) in 2014; Tristan Do (1993), Mika Chunuonsee (1989) in 2015; Manuel Bihr (1994), Kevin Deeromram (1997) debuting in 2017; Elias Dolah (1993) debuting in 2019; Ernesto Amantegui Phumipha (1990) debuted in 2021... Recently, at the international friendly tournament at My Dinh Stadium last September, the "War Elephants" debuted striker Patrick Gustavsson (born in 2002) alongside Nicholas Mickelson (1999), Elias Dolah (1993), Jonathan Khemdee (2002), William Weideersjo (2001)... These players with part foreign blood have contributed significantly to helping Thai football regain its leading position in Southeast Asia for coach Park Hang-seo and his team, through the double championship of the AFF Cup 2020, 2022.
Indonesia 's unprecedented naturalization storm
Indonesian football is "prospering" thanks to an unprecedented "storm" of naturalization, under the leadership of billionaire Erick Thohir, President of the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI), and special support from the Indonesian Government. The archipelago team has been attracting many quality overseas players. On September 30, two stars Mees Hilgers (born in 2001, FC Twente) and Eliano Reijnders (born in 2000, PEC Zwolle) became Indonesian citizens. They were given special permission to take the oath in Brussels (Belgium) instead of having to fly to Indonesia as before, with a record procedure time of only 1 month. Both of these players, a central defender who held MU to a 1-1 draw in the 2024-2025 Europa League, and an attacking midfielder who is the younger brother of Dutch national team and AC Milan star Tijjani Reijnders, are of Indonesian origin. Previously, many Indonesian stars were given the opportunity to become naturalized overnight at the airport in Indonesia in order to fly back to play for European clubs.
Naturalized player Patrik Gustavsson (9) scored against Vietnam, in his first time wearing the Thai national team jersey.
Mees Hilgers (transfer value 7 million euros - about 192 billion VND, the most expensive in Southeast Asia) and Eliano Reijnders (transfer value 650,000 euros) help extend the list of the most powerful naturalized foreign players in Southeast Asia and perhaps Asia in Indonesian football. The national team has a full Western squad with Maarten Paes (Dallas FC, USA), Jay Idzes (Venezia, Italy), Justin Hubner (Wolves, England), Nathan Tjoe-A-On (Swansea, England), Thom Haye (Almere City, Netherlands), Ragnar Oratmangoen (Fortuna Sittard, Netherlands), Ivar Jenner (Utrecht, Netherlands), Rafael Struick (Brisbane Roar, Australia), Jordi Amat (Johor Darul Ta'zim, Malaysia), Elkan Baggott (One Blackpool, England), Marc Klok (Persib Bandung, Indonesia)... In addition to the World Cup dream for the first team, Indonesia is strongly naturalizing the U.20 and U.23 Indonesian teams to aim for the Olympic playground, to be a long-term successor force for the future.
GENERAL PIPING AND APPLICATION OF GENERAL TRENDS
The wave of naturalized players from Thailand and Indonesia poses huge challenges for Vietnamese football not only in regional tournaments but also in larger arenas such as the Asian Cup or World Cup qualifiers. Looking around, China, Malaysia and Singapore have also spent a lot of money to naturalize "Westerners". This once helped Singapore dominate Southeast Asia with 3 AFF Cup championships in 2004, 2007 and 2012, but then gradually weakened until now. Many naturalized players from China and Singapore have been culturally "out of sync" and even lack the desire to contribute, causing strong reactions from the public and fans in these two countries. That is also the reason why after the initial phase of "hunting Westerners", Indonesia abandoned this method to thoroughly exploit the source of overseas Vietnamese from Europe.
During its development, Vietnamese football once opened the door for naturalized foreign players, such as goalkeeper Phan Van Santos and striker Huynh Kesley to play for the Vietnamese national team. However, for some reasons, the trend of calling naturalized players to the Vietnamese national team had to stop. Vietnamese football now has Nguyen Xuan Son (formerly known as Rafaelson, of Brazilian origin) who has successfully naturalized as a Vietnamese national player. This very talented player is waiting for 5 years in Vietnam to have the opportunity to be called up to the Vietnamese national team by coach Kim Sang-sik. But that is a story for the future. (to be continued)
The Vietnamese national team currently has Dang Van Lam and Nguyen Filip, players with half Vietnamese blood who are training in Europe. Previously, Mac Hong Quan and Patrick Le Giang were waiting for Vietnamese citizenship. This shows that the potential of overseas Vietnamese players playing football abroad is there, but it will take time and a synchronized strategy like Indonesia to exploit it effectively.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/xu-huong-nhap-tich-thach-thuc-lon-cho-bong-da-viet-nam-18524100321385631.htm
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