List of Vietnam international footballers born outside Vietnam

This is a list of footballers who has represented the Vietnam national football team in international football and were born outside of Vietnam .

The following players:

1. have one parent or grandparent who was born in Vietnam.
2. were born outside Vietnam or were born in Vietnam but went abroad since during their childhood.

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 of international players

• 
  Huỳnh Kesley Alves was one of the first naturalized players to represent Vietnam.
• 
  Đặng Văn Lâm made more than 40 appearances for Vietnam since his debut in 2015.
• 
  Nguyễn Filip had played for Vietnam since January 2024.
• 
  In 2024, Nguyễn Xuân Son became the first naturalized player without Vietnamese heritage to play for the team since 2009.
• 
  Lê Khắc Viktor appeared for Vietnam U23 in 2025.
• 
  Cao Pendant Quang Vinh made his debut for Vietnam in 2025.

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. ^{[1] [2]} 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.

List of players born abroad that represented North Vietnam or South Vietnam:

Name	Birthyear	Place of birth	National career	Represented
Phạm Văn Hiếu	1921	Cambodia (Phnom Penh)	195?–1960	South Vietnam
Hoàng Ngọc Minh	1932	Laos (Thakhek)	1958–1960	North Vietnam
Từ Như Thành	1943	New Caledonia (Nouméa)	196?–196?	North Vietnam
Từ Như Hiển	1945	New Caledonia (Nouméa)	1965–197?	North Vietnam
Đỗ Cẩu	1946	Cambodia (Phnom Penh)	1972–1975	South Vietnam
Vương Tiến Dũng	1952	Thailand (Nong Khai)	196?–197?	North Vietnam

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. ^{[3] [4] [5]} 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. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

The list below includes players who represented the Vietnam national football team but were not born in the country. These players can have dual citizenship with Vietnam and/or have become naturalised Vietnamese citizens. The players are ordered per their national team debut.

As of 10 June 2025

No.	Name	Birthyear	Place of birth	Vietnamese ancestry	National career	Caps	Goals
1	Nguyễn Liêm Thanh	1972	Cambodia (Phnom Penh)	Maternal	1995–1999	8	0
2	Phan Văn Santos	1977	Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)	None (Naturalized)	2008–2009	2	0
3	Đinh Hoàng La	1979	Ukraine [a] (Kyiv)	None (Naturalized)	2009	1	0
4	Đinh Hoàng Max	1986	Nigeria (Abuja)	None (Naturalized)	2009	1	0
5	Huỳnh Kesley Alves	1981	Brazil (Palmeiras)	None (Naturalized)	2009	1	0
6	Nguyễn Michal	1989	Czech Republic [b] (Litvínov)	Paternal	2013	2	0
7	Đặng Văn Lâm	1993	Russia (Moscow)	Paternal	2015–present	44	0
8	Bùi Đức Duy	1994	Germany (Grimma)	Paternal	2022	1	0
9	Nguyễn Filip	1992	Czech Republic [b] (Prague)	Paternal	2024–present	12	0
10	Nguyễn Xuân Son	1997	Brazil (Pirapemas)	None (Naturalized)	2024–present	5	7
11	Cao Pendant Quang Vinh	1997	France (Sarcelles)	Maternal	2025–present	1	0

Youth internationals

The players in the following list represented Vietnam at youth level.

Name	Birthyear	Place of birth	Vietnamese ancestry	Youth national team	Youth national career
Đặng Văn Lâm	1993	Russia (Moscow)	Paternal	Vietnam U-19	2011
Mạc Hồng Quân	1989	Vietnam (Hải Dương) [c]	Full	Vietnam U-23	2012–2015
Lò Martin	1997	Australia (Sydney)	Full	Vietnam U-23	2020
Lê Khắc Viktor	2003	Russia (Moscow)	Paternal	Vietnam U-23	2025–present
Bùi Alex	2005	Czech Republic (Prague)	Full	Vietnam U-23	2025–present

Notes

1. At the time part of the Ukrainian SSR (a part of the   Soviet Union)
2. At the time part of   Czechoslovakia
3. Born in Vietnam, but grew up in Czech Republic

References

General

• An, An (11 March 2022). "Cầu thủ Việt kiều lên tuyển Việt Nam được định giá 3,8 tỷ đồng" [Overseas Vietnamese players joining the Vietnamese team are valued at VND 3.8 billion]. Dân trí (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
• Ngoc, Phan (21 July 2022). "Cầu thủ Việt kiều lên tuyển Việt Nam được định giá 3,8 tỷ đồng" [Overseas Vietnamese players joining the Vietnamese team are valued at VND 3.8 billion]. BBC News (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.

Specific

1. "Đội tuyển Công an Hà Nội và cái duyên với những Việt kiều". cand.com (in Vietnamese). 17 August 2023.
2. Phạm, Trần Oánh (15 September 2023). "Vĩnh biệt huyền thoại bóng đá Từ Như Hiển" [Farewell to football legend Từ Như Hiển] (in Vietnamese). Dân Việt.
3. Bảo, Tiểu; Lao, Giang (19 February 2022). "Cần cú hích đúng cho lộ trình nhập tịch" [Need the right push for the naturalization route]. Thanh Niên (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
4. Duy, Nhật; Quỳnh, Hoàng (20 February 2022). "Tài năng Việt kiều: Khi nào có thể nhập tịch cho cầu thủ bóng đá?" [Talented overseas Vietnamese: When can a football player be naturalized?]. Thanh Niên (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 18 August 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
5. Hung, Dong (18 November 2021). "Đội tuyển Việt Nam: để chơi tầm châu lục cần có thêm cầu thủ nhập tịch" [Vietnam team: to play on the continental level, more naturalized players are needed]. Kinh tế đô thị (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
6. Thuỳ Anh (17 June 2017). "VFF lên tiếng việc tuyển Việt Nam không gọi cầu thủ nhập tịch" [VFF speaks about Vietnam not calling up naturalized players] (in Vietnamese). Dân Trí.
7. Nhật Duy (14 May 2019). "VFF nói 'không' với việc gọi cầu thủ nhập tịch lên tuyển Việt Nam" [VFF says “no” about calling up naturalized players to the Vietnamese national team] (in Vietnamese). Thanh Niên.
8. Minh Phong (14 September 2024). "Chuyện cầu thủ nhập tịch ở đội tuyển Việt Nam" [The issue of naturalization in the Vietnamese national team] (in Vietnamese). Lao Động.