Asian football is on an unprecedented rise, clubs from Saudi Arabia and other countries from the Arabian Peninsula are buying expensive world stars. Indonesia is also responsible, as the Czech footballers also recognized.
Vietnam also wants to join these predators. “The conditions, including financial ones, are high there,” nods player agent Pavel Zika, who now works at Global Sports.
It is he who represents the Czech goalkeeper with Vietnamese origins, Filip Nguyen, who transferred to the Hanoi Police Club and became a big celebrity in his ancestral homeland. He thus revealed a new market that can be very interesting for Czech players.
There was no welcome
The possibility that the goalkeeper, who started his career in Prague’s Braník, would appear in the homeland of his ancestors has been discussed for years. He was still on trial as a second-league player for Vlašimi, Binh Dinh FC was interested in him last year, but the transfer ended up stalling on official formalities.
In January, he was scouted by Cong An Ha Noi, known as Hanoi Police, a police club under the Ministry of the Interior. The interest was great, but it was not possible to fine-tune the agreement on the Czech side. “The prerequisite for Filip’s departure was that Milan Heča, a protégé, would return from Sparta to Slovácko, so that the Moravian team would have two usable goalkeepers alongside Tomáš Fryšták,” reveals Zika.
Although Heča still had a contract with Sparta in the spring, and its financial side was much more impressive for him, Slovácko would not be able to match it.
However, Nguyen has already become such a media-discussed figure in Vietnam that at least an introduction of the future summer reinforcement was prepared. He was supposed to meet the chairman of the club, a senior police officer with the rank of general, he was supposed to greet the fans on the screen before the competitive match. “He already had a ticket,” reveals Zika. But flying to the other side of the globe would have disrupted the club’s schedule, and in the end the theater did not take place.
Everything happened in the summer.
Smart businessman Milan
Negotiations with the Vietnamese club weren’t easy either, even though they were trying to get the Czech goalkeeper from the beginning. “Even though Filip is a so-called half-breed, that is, one of his parents is Vietnamese and he is considered one of their own in this Asian country, it was not easy to overcome the officials,” Zika suggests.
However, he found an important ally in the implementation of the transfer. “Filip’s father, Minh, a businessman originally from Saigon, who has lived in the Czech Republic for a long time and speaks both languages, while Filip is still learning,” admits Zika. “He personally went after the transfer and sped everything up a lot,” adds the agent, who, for example, represented goalkeeper Petr Čech in his career, including a transfer to the English Premier League.
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A friendship even developed between them. “For better communication, I call him Milan, he offered it to me himself,” reveals the relationship.
However, the important thing was that everything was completed.
Federal duel between the bars
The interesting thing is that the Spartan pupil was supposed to compete with Patrick Le Giang, a Slovakian goalkeeper who played for several Czech clubs, for the first place between the three poles, he got to know the highest Czech competition in Karviná and especially in Bohemians Praha.
Also a ‘halfling’, Nam’s father met the Slovak girl Katarína while studying in Bratislava. The native of Lučenec worked his way up to the 21st team through the Slovak youth selections, while visiting Vietnam he received an offer to represent this country, but he decided to continue in the Slovak jersey.
He came to the Hanoi club in the winter as a free agent, while his federal colleague in the summer for a severance fee of 400,000 euros (about 10 million crowns), which is a very high sum for a 31-year-old goalkeeper. Since only one can stand in the goal, there would be an interesting federal duel to take the position of the chosen one between the three posts.
In addition, they would be pushing one place over the allowed limit of legionnaires, which can only be four. “From the new season, each club can accept one player from Europe without the need for Vietnamese citizenship. It’s enough if one of his parents is Vietnamese,” points out the Czech reinforcement about the recent exception, pointing to the father of ‘Milan’.
However, the second one would already be over the limit and occupying the luxury post of goalkeeper would be quite a luxury for the club. “These are designed for offensive and creative players who add depth to the game,” Zika points out. The squad includes Brazilian legionnaires Gustavo Henrique and Jhon Cley, Portuguese defender Elton Monteiro and Congo’s Juvhel Tsoumou.
However, everything was resolved, the Slovakian goalkeeper went on loan to Ho Chi Minh City FC.
Representation on the horizon
A goalkeeper with experience from the European league, he even tried European club competitions. Qualified enough to be considered for the national team. After all, this attempt has already taken place.
In July 2019, it was announced that Nguyen was in the process of obtaining Vietnamese citizenship, which would allow him to represent the Asian country in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. However, in September 2020, he received a call-up to the Czech team for the Nations League match against Scotland. The forced quarantine of the first team that played a match against Slovakia also helped his career.
Philip Nguyen
Born on 14 September 1992, PraguePlaying career: ABC Braník (2001-2009), Sparta Prague (2009-2011), LokoVltavín (2011-2012), Sparta Prague (2012-2014), Cidlina Nový Bydžov (2014-2016), FC Sellier & Bellot Vlašim (2016-2018), Slovan Liberec (2018-2021), 1.FC Slovácko (2021-2023), Cong An Ha Noi FC/Vietnam (2023)
In March 2021, he was additionally called up for the World Cup 2022 qualification match against Belgium. Due to an injury, Ondřej Kolář was absent and Jiří Pavlenka did not travel to the match either, as he was in mandatory fourteen-day quarantine in Germany. However, Nguyen remained only on the bench, the match was caught by Tomáš Vaclík.
The door to the Vietnamese national team did not slam shut. “Since he didn’t play for the Czech team in an official match even for a minute, he can represent the new homeland,” confirms FIFA’s agent Zika.
The coveted Champions League
Ambitions are high, but also in the domestic competition. In the eight-member league, after the thirteenth round, the police club leads the table with 24 points, and they strongly desire to play in the Asian Champions League.
“The conditions at the club are great, I would compare them to the middle part of the German Bundesliga,” declares Zika. “It has top-notch facilities, including rehabilitation, training areas, catering, everything modern,” he explains.
Photo: Klub Cong An Ha Noi
Cong An Ha Noi Gym.
And they pay the players well. According to information, the Czech legionnaire earns approximately one million crowns a month, has an apartment and a car at his disposal. “It’s not just that the club is financed by the Ministry of the Interior, but it also has quite strong sponsors,” reveals Zika.
An experienced Czech goalkeeper with experience in European continental competitions (he played for Slovácko in the Conference League last fall) brings hope for quick successful results. He became an instant celebrity. “I’m better known here than in the Czech Republic,” reports Nguyen from the discovered homeland of his ancestors.
