This is a list of footballers who has represented the Vietnam national football team in international football and were born outside of Vietnam.
This list includes players who have dual citizenship with Vietnam and/or have become naturalized Vietnamese citizens. The players are ordered per modern-day country of birth; if the country at the time of birth differs from the current, this is indicated with a subsection.
List
Từ Như Hiển was one of the first footballers born outside Vietnam to represent the latter. Born in New Caledonia, Hiển repartriated in 1963 and made his debut for North Vietnam national team in 1965 and played for the team until the 1970s. However, since North Vietnam wasn't a member of FIFA and the AFC at the time, Hiển's records with the team weren't officially recognized by these organisations.
Pre-Unification List of players born abroad that represented North Vietnam or South Vietnam: NameBirthyear Place of birthNational careerRepresented Paul Paccini1913 (Bastia)1949 Phạm Văn Hiếu1921 (Phnom Penh)195?–1960 Hoàng Ngọc Minh1932 (Thakhek)1958–1960 Từ Như Thành1943 (Nouméa)196?–196? Từ Như Hiển1945 (Nouméa)1965–197? Đỗ Cẩu1946 (Phnom Penh)1972–1975 Vương Tiến Dũng1952 (Nong Khai)196?–197?
Since the reunified Vietnam national football team rejoined the international stage in 1991, the players born abroad with Vietnamese heritage, referred as the Việt kiều were always considered as an important part of team as many of them trained and played in countries where football is more developed than in Vietnam. The most notable players are Russian-born goalkeeper Đặng Văn Lâm, who contributed in Vietnam's successful 2018 AFF Championship and 2019 AFC Asian Cup campaign; and goalkeeper Nguyễn Filip, who started for Vietnam at the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. During a short period between 2008 and 2009, the Vietnam Football Federation allowed naturalized players without Vietnamese heritage to represent the country but reverted this decision shortly after, in order to "preserve national identity" in the team.
Post-Unification
Naturalized Vietnamese nameOriginal name Birthyear Place of birthNational careerCapsGoals Phan Văn Santos Fábio dos Santos 1977 (Rio de Janeiro)2008 2 0 Đinh Hoàng La Mykola Oleksandrovych Lytvoka 1979 (Kyiv)20091 0 Đinh Hoàng Max Maxwell Eyerakpo 1986 (Abuja)2009 1 0 Huỳnh Kesley Alves Kesley Alves 1981 (Palmeiras)20091 0 Nguyễn Xuân Son Rafaelson Bezerra Fernandes 1997 (Pirapemas)2024–present 18 16 Đỗ Hoàng Hên Hêndrio Araújo da Silva 1994 (São Paulo)2026–present 13 3 Nguyễn Tài Lộc Geovane Magno 1994 (Governador Valadares)2026–present 110
Players of Vietnamese descent Vietnamese nameOriginal name Birthyear Place of birthVietnamese ancestry National careerCapsGoalsNguyễn Liêm Thanh1972 (Phnom Penh)Maternal 1995–199911 0 Nguyễn Michal Michal Nguyen 1989 (Litvínov)Paternal 20132 0 Đặng Văn Lâm1993 (Moscow)Paternal 2015–present 48 0 Bùi Đức Duy Adriano Schmidt 1994 (Grimma)Paternal 2022 1 0 Nguyễn Filip Filip Nguyen 1992 (Prague)Paternal 2024–present 13 0 Cao Pendant Quang Vinh Jason Pendant 1997 (Sarcelles)Maternal2025–present 8 0 Lê Giang Patrik Patrik Le Giang 1992 (Lučenec)Paternal 2026–present 12 0 Nguyễn Adou Leygley Minh Leygley Adou 1997 (Grenoble)Maternal2026–present 3 0 Williams Minh Hoàng Lee Williams2007 (Manchester)Maternal2026–present 31 Ngô Đăng Khoa Khoa Ngo2006 (Perth)Both 2026–present 20
Notes
References General
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