Overseas Vietnamese players: Is V-League winning big or just a passing fever?

I still remember that handshake between two men in a coffee shop in District 7, Saigon, on a May afternoon. One side was the agent of a player with dual Vietnamese-French heritage, the other the technical director of a V-League club. They didn't count money on the table. They talked about the future, about responsibility to the national game, about building an image. When I asked the agent, 'How much?', he looked at me and smiled: 'Mr. Ho Quan, people count the zeros in the contract; I count the handshakes of the negotiators.' That's when I understood: the Vietnamese transfer market isn't just about money. It's a chess game of trust, of late-night phone calls, and of stories no payslip can tell. Look at the big picture: Over the past five years or so, V-League has witnessed a wave of overseas Vietnamese players returning from Europe, the US, and Australia. The name Nguyen Filip (born in the Czech Republic) joining the national team is the clearest proof. But the story goes deeper than a single contract. It touches the market structure: V-League wants to raise its level, to acquire players with modern tactical thinking and better physical condition. Overseas Vietnamese players, who grew up in organized football environments, are the missing piece. But at the same time, it's a gamble. Not everyone who returns succeeds. Some arrive, train for six months, and leave in silence. Analyzing the deal logic: A V-League club recruiting an overseas Vietnamese player typically faces three equations. First, salary. They must pay above the local average to compete with Western living standards, sometimes equal to a second-tier foreigner in Europe. Second, adaptation time. A player leaving a structured training environment for V-League – where tactics are sometimes still rough and refereeing is often controversial – needs at least one season to adjust. Third, expectations. Fans and experts place the 'Western-trained' label on their shoulders, while in reality, their level is only decent in Europe. This is a trade-off: the club gets a player with better physical foundation and tactical thinking, but pays with patience and money. I once witnessed a failed deal. A Vietnamese-origin player from France returned, expected to become the midfield pivot. After three games, he couldn't handle the pressure, clashed with teammates over training culture differences, and finally left after one year. Contracts are born to be broken legally. That was an expensive lesson. But there are also success stories. A Vietnamese-origin player from Australia – whom I won't name out of respect for an agreement – became the driving force that helped his club escape the relegation zone. The secret? He didn't just come to play football; he came to learn how to be Vietnamese again, to understand why his teammates didn't train as intensively as in Europe. Now, let's look at the blind spot of the official narrative: Media often celebrates the return of overseas Vietnamese players as a victory. I think this isn't necessarily true. The reality is that V-League still lacks the infrastructure and coaching philosophy to retain players with real potential. They come, but many leave after one or two seasons, carrying disappointment. The most important thing in a deal is never in the contract. It lies in whether the club creates an environment for that player to develop. If not, the overseas fever will remain just a fever, not a revolution. I think about the future. Can V-League build a sustainable pathway to attract and retain these talents of Vietnamese origin? Or will we continue to see sad handshakes, hastily signed contracts that fall apart? PSG 2026 taught me: money can buy players, but it cannot buy history. The overseas Vietnamese story is the same. We can buy talent, but building a legacy requires much more. It requires a system, patience, and people who cherish every handshake, because that's where history begins. As I write these lines, I'm 58, with 42 years in the profession. I write more slowly now, but I write so the next generation can see the picture more clearly. There are nights when you see history change color and realize you've grown old. But I still believe: with every overseas Vietnamese player who returns, if we know how to build, it will be a new page in Vietnam's football history.