It is not my intention to be patronising here, but Vietnam is hardly a country that makes one think of footballing glory.
They are currently ranked 127 in the world by FIFA (the highest they have been in these rankings is 84th in September 1998). Whilst football is by far the most popular sport in the country, the V-League only turned professional in 2000. On a positive note they are the current ASEAN Champions (not to be confused with Asian Games champions- that's Qatar).
Over 50 Brazilian born players have featured in the V league during its first decade, Denilson being the only member of the seleção to do so.
The most remarkable Brazilian born player to feature in the V- league must be goalkeeper Phan Văn Santos (born Fabio dos Santos, Rio De Janeiro, 1977). He started his career with Vasco and moved to Đồng Tâm Long An in 2001. He recently moved to Navibank Sài Gòn (who have 3 other Brazilian born players in their squad).
A formidable 92 kg and 198 cm tall, in addition to his qualities as a stopper Fabio is also a free kick specialist, and the only goalie to have scored in the Asian Champions League . In 2008 Fabio became the first overseas sportsman to be granted Vietnamese Citizenship, meeting the residency, work and language criteria. He took the name Phan Van in honour of two of his teammates, and led Vietnam against the Brazil Olympic team in July 2008.
