HANOI (9 Jan 2011) – With less than two weeks left to the start of the V-League 2011, teams are stepping up their chase for foreign imports.
The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) recently set the limit on the number of foreign players that clubs are allowed to use at the V-League and First Division tournaments.
For the new V-League 2011 season which opens on 22 January, the VFF has issued regulations restricting V-League teams to a maximum of four foreign players, three of whom will be allowed to play at any given time.
Among the ‘stars’ of V-League 2010 – Leandro de Oliveira (from Brazil) left Hai Phong to join Binh Duong club with transfer fee of around USD200,000 and a monthly salary of USD20,000 while Nigerian striker Samson might leave Dong Thap to play for T&T Hanoi following an offered transfer fee of at least USD100,000.
Hoa Phat Hanoi on the other hand will be offering a lucrative contract extension to African striker Timothy as new team Xuan Thanh Saigon created a flurry after purchasing several football stars including Huynh Kesley, whom they had to pay USD1 million for his three-year contract.
Naturalised Vietnam goalkeeper Phan Van Santos has switched from Ninh Binh to Navibank Saigon where he has been offered better remuneration.
But Binh Duong will perhaps have the best foreign players in Vietnam after acquiring striker Obinna from Greek side Olympiakos for nearly USD1 million to play alongside Lee Nguyen, Leandro and Philani.
Several quarters had complained that the quality of the foreign players do not commensurate with their salaries but with Vietnam clubs not making any serious effort to initiate development programmes, there’s been a serious dearth in acquiring local talents.
