Football

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam are making use of the growing trend of naturalised players in Southeast Asian football while maintaining an important role for home-grown talent, with Nguyễn Đình Bắc among the clearest examples.

Naturalisation is not new to Southeast Asian football. Singapore successfully adopted the policy years ago, while Indonesia have increasingly relied on players born and raised in Europe. Malaysia have also continued to add players with foreign backgrounds to their national team.

Việt Nam joined the trend later. Nguyễn Xuân Son became the first naturalised player to score for the national team in 2024. Đỗ Hoàng Hên and Nguyễn Tài Lộc have since completed their naturalisation procedures, giving head coach Kim Sang-sik more options.

The national team have also benefited from players of Vietnamese origin born or raised overseas. Goalkeepers Đặng Văn Lâm, Nguyễn Filip and Lê Giang Patrik have all competed for the starting position.

But the arrival of naturalised and overseas Vietnamese players has not pushed domestic players out of the team.

The 2026 ASEAN Cup has shown that Kim still relies on a strong group of players developed in Việt Nam’s domestic football system.

Bắc’s rise

At 21, Bắc is the leading scorer at the 2026 ASEAN Cup, and has become one of Việt Nam’s key players in their title defence.

His rise has not come from a single tournament. He made his senior international debut in 2023 and scored against Japan at the Asian Cup. He has also played for Việt Nam at the youth level and established himself at club level.

At the ASEAN Cup, Bắc scored a hat trick against Timor-Leste before adding two goals against Cambodia.

He can play as a central striker, but has often been more effective when starting from a wide position and moving inside. His movement allows him to exploit spaces when Việt Nam’s wing backs push forward.

Bắc is still developing, however.

In Việt Nam’s goalless draw with Singapore, coach Kim repeatedly called on the young forward to improve before taking him off in the 41st minute.

Yet the coach continued to trust him, starting him in their next match against Indonesia. Bắc later produced a better performance against Cambodia, scoring from an individual effort.

For a young player, the response was important. He had a difficult game against Singapore, but returned to the starting lineup in the next match and made an impact.

Domestic core

Bắc is not the only home-grown player in a leading role.

Nguyễn Hoàng Đức remains a key figure in midfield and is among the candidates for the tournament’s best player award. Nguyễn Thành Chung has an important role in the three-man defence, while Nguyễn Văn Vĩ provides energy on the left.

Nguyễn Hai Long has also added another option in attack.

Việt Nam have a squad strengthened by naturalised and overseas Vietnamese players, without becoming dependent on them.

This balance is necessary, as the generation that helped Việt Nam enjoy sporting success from 2018 onwards gradually moves towards the latter stages of their careers.

Team captain and attacking midfielder Nguyễn Quang Hải remains a solid leader, but Việt Nam also need younger players capable of taking over key roles in the coming years.

Bắc is one of those players.

His performances at the ASEAN Cup show that Việt Nam can add naturalised players to strengthen the squad while continuing to give home-grown talent opportunities at the international level.

Naturalisation can give a national team more options, but domestic development remains important for long-term competitiveness.

For Kim, having both sources of talent gives Việt Nam more choices as they look to defend their ASEAN Cup title. — VNS