Vietnam women's team does not compete for naturalization

The Vietnamese women's team is not in a race to naturalize massively.

Not only men's football, the wave of naturalized players has also crept into women's teams in the Southeast Asian region. In particular, the Philippines' success in qualifying for the 2023 Women's World Cup has become an example for the Cambodian and Indonesian women's teams to learn from.

Most recently, the Indonesian Women's Football Association (PSSI) announced 10 overseas Vietnamese players who will play for the national women's team, preparing to participate in the 2026 Women's Asian Cup qualifiers and the 2025 Southeast Asian Women's Championship.

The story of naturalizing players for the national team is becoming a topical topic in Vietnamese football, especially after the 0-4 defeat of the Vietnamese men's team against Malaysia in the recent 2027 Asian Cup qualifiers.

During a media meeting on the afternoon of June 20 in Ho Chi Minh City, this topic continued to be a question for VFF leaders, but focused more deeply on women's football.

Mr. Tran Anh Tu, Vice President of VFF in charge of professional matters, shared: “The viewpoint of VFF leaders is to continue training young players, improving internal strength through the National Women's Championship and domestic clubs. Currently, the National Women's Championship is held at one location, so in the near future, VFF will change the competition format to innovate and attract more resources to join hands in developing Vietnamese women's football. In the immediate future, we have created conditions for each club to use foreign players as well as foreign players of Vietnamese origin.”

Mr. Tran Anh Tu took advantage of the success of the Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club in exploiting the resources of overseas Vietnamese players to achieve impressive results in domestic and international tournaments. Thanks to the appearance of three overseas Vietnamese players Ashley Tram Anh, Nguyen Hoang Nam Mi and Chelsea Le, the team led by coach Doan Thi Kim Chi won third place at the 2024/25 Asian Women's Club Cup.

“The Ho Chi Minh City Women's Club is taking the lead in using foreign players of Vietnamese origin. The VFF always welcomes overseas Vietnamese to compete. We focus on training, and will have reasonable personnel additions to the Vietnam women's team, not rushing to naturalize them. Hopefully, other women's clubs in Vietnam will move towards using foreign players and overseas Vietnamese players. The VFF will also promote the improvement of clubs through professional football licensing as stipulated by the AFC when competing internationally,” Mr. Tu affirmed.

Source: https://znews.vn/doi-tuyen-nu-viet-nam-khong-chay-dua-nhap-tich-o-at-post1562509.html