Ho Chi Minh City Police Club signs contract with the most expensive foreign player in V-League

On the morning of August 10, Ho Chi Minh City Police Club (formerly Ho Chi Minh City Club) announced the expensive new recruit - center back Matheus Felipe Santos (Brazil) to compete in V-League 2025-2026.

Matheus Felipe is 1.86m tall, played 23 matches and scored 2 goals for Athletico Paranaense Club (Brazil) in Serie A from 2002-2023.

The 27-year-old centre-back was then loaned to two clubs Ceara SC and Atletico-GO to play in Serie B in the 2024-2025 season. He scored 1 goal in 13 appearances before deciding to join the Ho Chi Minh City Police Club.

Matheus Felipe is valued at 1 million euros (about 30.5 billion VND) by transfer website Transfrmarkt.

Thus, Matheus Felipe became the foreign player with the highest record price in V-League, surpassing defensive midfielder Njabulo Blom (South Africa) who was brought in by Nam Dinh Club this season for 950,000 euros (about 28.9 billion VND).

With an ideal physique, a strong play and good situation reading, Matheus Felipe is expected by the Ho Chi Minh City Police Club to be the perfect piece for the defense. He just arrived in Vietnam on August 8, and is in the process of assembling the team.

Currently, the HCM City Police Club has only signed contracts with two foreign players, midfielder Endrick Dos Santos and central defender Matheus Felipe, although the tournament allows four registration slots. The third foreign player waiting for the International Transfer Certificate (ITC) to sign a contract is central midfielder Samuel Bastien.

This player of Belgian and Congolese nationality is currently valued at 650,000 euros by transfer website Transfrmarkt, much lower than the valuation of 7 million euros in October 2020 when he joined Standard Liege Club (Belgium).

Ho Chi Minh City Police Club just held its launching ceremony, starting the new 2025-2026 season on the afternoon of August 8. The goal of coach Le Huynh Duc and his team is to strive to achieve the highest results in the first season back with the once-famous name.

In the latest friendly match on the evening of August 9, Ho Chi Minh City Police Club drew 2-2 with the first division team Long An thanks to goals from Tien Linh and Endrick. Previously, this attacking duo also scored in the friendly match against Geylang Club (Singapore) 2-1 at Thong Nhat Stadium on August 7.