V-League: Young players have their land taken over by foreign players

BEHIND THE FOREIGN PLAYER PURCHASE RECORD

According to statistics from the transfer website Transfermarkt, the value of V-League teams has increased by 10.8 million euros (about 332 billion VND) just after the transfer period before the 2025-2026 season. Thanks to that, V-League surpassed the Malaysian league to become the 3rd most valuable league in Southeast Asia, after Thailand and Indonesia. In terms of value growth, V-League is leading Southeast Asia.

Photo: VPF

The reason why the tournament value has skyrocketed is because V-League teams spend a lot of money to bring in good foreign players. Most of the more than 300 billion VND is spent on foreign players, with about 200,000 - 300,000 euros for a quality foreign player. Many players even cost millions of euros including transfer fees, salaries and contract fees. New players like Matheus Felipe (Ho Chi Minh City Police Club), Kyle Hudlin, Caique ( Nam Dinh ), Stefan Mauk (Hanoi Police Club), Gustavo (Ninh Binh) or Willian Maranha (Hanoi) are all high-class and "eat up" a lot of money.

The fact that teams are "strong because of rice" helps V-League increase its quality and competitiveness. Because while the level of domestic players grows slowly, the presence of foreign players with superior class and physique will raise the level of V-League, at the same time creating strength for Vietnamese clubs when entering the international arena.

The success of Buriram United (Thailand) or JDT (Malaysia) in the AFC Champions League Elite is proof. Both teams fielded squads of up to 9-10 foreign players (note that the foreign players of Buriram and JDT are all of very high caliber), so they were not inferior to the representatives of Korea, Japan or China in the Asian playground.

However, investing in foreign players is only a necessary condition for V-League to break through. There is still a need for space for young players to be nurtured and developed so that football has a solid foundation.

WHAT OPPORTUNITIES ARE THERE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE?

For those who love youth football, the opening round match of V-League between PVF-CAND and SLNA is of special interest, as both teams are strong in youth training and actively give opportunities to "rough gems".

However, in the match at PVF Stadium on August 17, PVF-CAND only fielded 4 players of the U.23 level, including defenders Bao Long, Hieu Minh, Anh Quan and midfielder Xuan Bac. Meanwhile, SLNA only had Van Binh, Ba Quyen and Quang Huy in the youth group. Only 7/22 starting players were young faces. The remaining 15 players were experienced domestic players or foreign players. All three goals scored in this match were scored by foreign players.

This match can be seen as a miniature picture of current Vietnamese youth football. Over the past 5 years, PVF-CAND has continuously used young players. But as soon as they got a ticket to the V-League, coach Thach Bao Khanh reorganized the squad. 3 foreign players were brought in, combined with "veteran" Samson, along with older domestic players such as Van Thuan, Huy Hung... to create a more experienced force in the V-League.

Coach Thach Bao Khanh's view is that PVF-CAND must first stay in the league, and to do so, the youth's strength must rely on experience. That means, although young players will be exposed to a higher-class environment than the first division, the number of "young seeds" being nurtured this season will decrease, depending on whether PVF-CAND can stay in the league early enough to feel secure in testing.

The same is true for HAGL. Although they fielded a squad with 6 players aged 23 or younger in the match against Becamex TP.HCM, the harsh reality of the relegation race could make the chances of the "youngsters" from the mountain town narrower with each match.

In addition, many V-League clubs still build their playing style around foreign players (shown in the goals and assists mainly made by foreign players), mainly playing long and high kicks, not focusing on ball control which is the easiest way to help young players develop, it is clear that V-League is not a good place for talents to rise.