Goalkeeper Filip Nguyen is waiting for naturalization, eligible to join the Vietnam national team

Overseas Vietnamese goalkeeper Filip Nguyen is waiting to be granted Vietnamese citizenship. If this procedure is completed, the Hanoi Police Club goalkeeper will be eligible to play for the national team.

Goalkeeper Filip Nguyen (yellow shirt) launched the Hanoi Police Club's uniform at the 2023/24 V-League. (Source: FBCN)

Filip Nguyen has played for the Hanoi Police Club since phase 2 of the 2023 V-League season. In the second half of the previous season and the first phase of the current season, this goalkeeper was registered as an overseas Vietnamese.

Currently, the Hanoi Police Club has submitted an application for Vietnamese citizenship for goalkeeper Filip Nguyen. If this application is approved, Filip Nguyen will become a domestic player in the V-League. At that time, this goalkeeper's performance for the reigning V-League champion team will be more favorable.

In addition, if Filip Nguyen has Vietnamese nationality, he will be eligible to wear the Vietnamese national team jersey to participate in the World Cup qualifiers, Asian Cup as well as other international tournaments.

Previously, goalkeeper Filip Nguyen was called up to the Czech Republic national team several times, but he has never played a single minute for the Eastern European team.

According to FIFA regulations, a player who has not played for the national team or U23 team of another country, can play for the other national team of which he has nationality.

Currently, Filip Nguyen is eager to be granted Vietnamese citizenship and play for coach Philippe Troussier's team.

On the side of Coach Troussier, if there is goalkeeper Filip Nguyen for the Vietnam team, this will be a very valuable addition. Filip Nguyen is a goalkeeper of European class, good physique (1m92), and plays very consistently.

In addition, this player is both good at catching the ball with his hands and good at launching attacks with his feet, in the style of modern goalkeepers.

It is expected that on November 6, the Vietnamese team will focus on preparing for the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia, against the Philippines on November 16 and Iraq on November 21.

If Filip Nguyen has time to obtain citizenship before the above dates, he will be able to participate in the first matches of the Vietnamese team in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

In case Filip Nguyen does not have time to obtain Vietnamese citizenship, he will continue to wait until the 2023 Asian Cup (taking place from January 12 to February 10, 2024, in Qatar), or wait for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers to return in March 2024.

Filip Nguyen is 31 years old this year, born in Slovakia (formerly Slovakia and the Czech Republic were one country, called Czechoslovakia), with a Vietnamese father.

Filip Nguyen grew up in Czech youth football, playing professionally for several Czech clubs such as Sparta Praha (from 2013-2015), Slovan Liberec (2018-2022), FC Slovacko (2022-2023), before returning to Vietnam to play for Hanoi Police Club from June 2023.

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