Affecting young players' playing opportunities?

The fact that V-League can increase the number of foreign players used in a match from 3 to 4 can threaten the opportunity for young players to play.

WHY DO TEAMS WANT TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF FOREIGN PLAYERS?

According to current regulations, V-League teams are allowed to register 4 foreign players, of which only 3 foreign players can be used on the field at the same time (1 foreign player is on the bench). However, at least 7 V-League teams want to change this regulation. Hanoi Club, Hanoi Police Club (CAHN), Nam Dinh , The Cong Viettel, Hai Phong, Ha Tinh, Da Nang are the teams that have sent documents to Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF), proposing to allow teams to use 4 foreign players on the field at the same time in V-League 2025 - 2026. VPF will synthesize the proposals and submit them to VFF for comments, before deciding before the new season's draw (July 14).

Foreign player Alan Grafite overshadows domestic attackers at CAHN Club

Photo: MINH TU

Why do some V-League teams want to increase the number of foreign players? First, let's look at the 7 teams that submitted proposals. 4 of them (Hanoi, The Cong Viettel , CAHN Club and Nam Dinh) regularly spend a lot of money on foreign players. CAHN and Nam Dinh Club last season recruited 6-8 foreign players to serve the ASEAN Club Championship and AFC Champions League 2. In the 2023 season, Hanoi Club hired 6 "Westerners" with the goal of causing a surprise at the AFC Champions League Elite. The Cong Viettel has not participated in the international playground for 4 years, but is also an ambitious team and wants to spend a lot of money on foreign players so that coach Velizar Popov's team can compete for the championship next season.

Because the number of foreign players used at the same time on the field (3 players) is always less than the number of foreign players registered by the teams, especially for teams playing in international tournaments, the teams that are willing to spend often have a surplus of foreign players, having to pay for "Westerners" who are only substituted in and out. For example, in the 2023 season, Hanoi FC paid tens of billions of VND in salaries, bonuses and contract fees for 6 foreign players (including 1 star player worth 600,000 USD) to serve the AFC Champions League Elite, but only 3 of them were used in the V-League, leading to the remaining 3 foreign players rarely playing.

As a result, these foreign players lost their form and were quickly released after the Asian tournament ended, wasting money. At the same time, the difference in the number of foreign players between the V-League and international tournaments forced the coach to constantly change tactics, causing poor performance. Last season, Nam Dinh Club was eliminated in the round of 16 of the AFC Champions League 2 despite fielding 8 foreign players, because only 3-4 of them were allowed to play in the V-League, the rest were in a "practice" state every week, leading to inconsistent and ineffective performance.

Increasing the number of foreign players to maximize spending efficiency and avoid wasting on a reserve foreign player is the common view of the 7 teams that submitted the proposal.

THE BACK SIDE

However, increasing the number of foreign players is a proposal that needs to be carefully studied. In the period 2000 - 2010, V-League allowed teams to register and use 5 - 7 foreign players. Later, the number of foreign players gradually decreased to 4 (2011 - 2012), then to 3 from 2013 to present. The reason for reducing foreign players is to increase opportunities for domestic players (especially young players) to compete. The result of this shift is the appearance of a generation of talented players at many clubs such as HAGL, The Cong Viettel, Hanoi, Binh Duong... The players were trusted, shined and brought about a period of brilliant success from 2018 - 2022 for Vietnamese football.

Because Vietnamese players do not go abroad, but only play in the V-League and the first division, all regulations related to foreign players need to be carefully calculated. Adding a foreign player means cutting a domestic player's spot. Whether the quality of the tournament will increase is still a big question mark, but certainly, many Vietnamese teams at this time only focus on giving the ball to "Westerners" to do everything, from leading the play, creating to scoring. Very few domestic players play a core role in the club. Commentator Vu Quang Huy shared: "Some V-League teams want to pursue a pragmatic style, a style of play that relies on foreign strikers that has been effective for many years."

But currently, the quality of Vietnamese players has declined because there is only a framework built during the time of Coach Park Hang-seo to look forward to. The Vietnamese team won the AFF Cup 2024 thanks to the inspiration of a naturalized foreign player (Nguyen Xuan Son). Without Xuan Son and having to face opponents who have changed after naturalization in large numbers, the Vietnamese team lost 0-3 to Indonesia and 0-4 to Malaysia.

Coach Kim Sang-sik once mentioned that young Vietnamese players have very few opportunities to show their talent in the V-League. In the list of 28 U.23 Vietnam players, only 5 players have been on the field regularly and have made their mark, such as Van Khang, Van Truong, Thai Son, Le Viktor and Trung Kien. Most young players are on the bench in the V-League, or play in the first-class tournament which is not of high quality. Therefore, in parallel with investing in foreign players, football teams need to be encouraged to develop domestic players, focusing more on youth training, instead of depending on foreign players like "instant noodles" to achieve results as has been the norm for the past 20 years.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/anh-huong-co-hoi-ra-san-cua-cau-thu-tre-185250710224159232.htm