IN FOCUS: The naturalisation push in Southeast Asian football – do foreign-born players guarantee success?

SINGAPORE: At the recently concluded ASEAN Championship, one footballer caught the eye.

He netted seven goals in just five appearances, terrorising defenders with a potent blend of physicality, speed and clinical finishing.

Despite a serious injury which saw him stretchered off in the second leg of the final and sent for surgery, Nguyen Xuan Son was instrumental in leading Vietnam to their third regional title.

In his debut tournament, the 27-year-old took home both the most valuable player and top scorer awards.

But Xuan Son wasn't born in Vietnam, nor does he have familial ties to the country.

He was born Rafaelson Bezerra Fernandes in Brazil.

After featuring for club sides in Japan and Denmark, he moved to Vietnam's top league and in December 2024, fulfilled a five-year residency requirement to play for his adopted country. With that, he also adopted a new name.

Xuan Son could represent the changing face of football in the region.

At the ASEAN Championship which concluded in January, players born in Japan, Colombia, South Africa, Argentina, Sweden, Norway and Ivory Coast featured.

Naturalisation of such foreign-born players is "changing the competitive complexion of Asian football", said freelance football writer Paul Williams.

"And it's going to continue to change it as nations continue to go down this path."

In 2004, world football governing body FIFA introduced measures where any player taking up a new nationality without a "clear connection" to that country would need to have lived there for at least two years, or have a parent or grandparent born there, to play for said country.

This "clear connection" could take the form of birth or ancestral connections.

In 2008, the residency requirement was extended to five years.

Singapor