In the previous two parts, we talked about how economical and cultural factors made an impact on Vietnamese players when it comes to making the decision to go abroad. In this newsletter, the last one of a three-part series, we’ll explore another hurdle which is probably the biggest one: the agents.
#3 The bridge
It is a fact that most Vietnamese players do not have their own agent, and more worryingly, are not aware of the importance of having an agent. Most contract negotiations are handled directly between the player itself and the club. The good thing about this is that the brokerage fee that is supposed to have been paid to the agent, roughly around 5% or 10% of the contract value, could be saved. The bad thing is that players, who often don't have a solid educational background as well as decent economic knowledge and negotiation experience, are often at a disadvantage, and sometimes even cheated by the dodgy club owners. The savings from not having to pay the agency fees are not necessarily as large as the financial losses from these adverse negotiations. On the other sides, the clubs are not always the beneficiaries. Sometimes they are deceived by the lies of the players in the negotiation process. The recent case of Victor Mansaray is a typical example. The US winger contacted Saigon FC directly to sign a contract in the mid-season transfer window of Vleague 2022 while having signed an exclusive contract with a reputable agent in finding the team for him within the territory of Vietnam. When the agent discovered this, he threatened to bring both Mansaray and Saigon FC to court and used social media and his media connection to add more pressure, forcing the 1997-born player and Saigon FC to cancel the signed agreement.
With the fact that Vietnam does not yet have an organization like the Professional Footballers Association to protect the interests of the players, plus the extraordinary importance of the contract’s signing-on fee for the players that I explained in the previous newsletter, it can be said that the players are often the disadvantaged side in contract negotiations. On paper, the presence of agents solves this problem. However, the reality is a different story. Like all other businesses in Vietnam, the selection of an agent, more or less the same as choosing a private lawyer or doctor, is not based on the person’s skills, especially in law and accounting, but mainly on personal relationships. It could be a “big brother” who is known from street football, a sports journalist who regularly follows the club, or sometimes a showbiz mogul who knows everything about social media engagement but has never watched a domestic football match. As long as the relationship is close enough, he/she could become the player’s agent.
This pick may be good enough for the football environment in Vietnam, but it becomes a big problem when a Vietnamese player intends to play abroad. Most agents in Vietnam are not good at speaking a foreign language to be confident at the negotiating table, let alone having enough knowledge about their partners on the opposite side: language, culture, law (especially football regulation), economics, ... Again, language is not a big deal, but the difference in business culture is another story. In Vietnam, a “Yes” does not always mean “Yes”, as just a reluctant eyes from the big boss can bring the negotiation process back to the beginning. Taking the signed contract for granted and resolving any disagreement by the court or arbitrator is a luxury because there are thousands of unorthodox ways that could be done to dodge the law. The agents themselves are not fully aware of this huge difference. What most of them care about, unfortunately, is money, which is probably the least important thing to a player's career development when he decides to play abroad.
Take for example the case of Dang Van Lam, the most successful Vietnamese footballer playing abroad so far. Many could argue that his time at Cerezo Osaka was a total failure of not being able to play any minute in J1. However, let's look at the bigger picture, not only for his performance on the pitch but also for the business side of the deals. Throughout his career, Dang Van Lam luckily to has an agent who somehow managed to convince Muangthong United to pay the transfer fee to Hai Phong FC to bring him to Thailand, then proceeded to smoothly settle the legal dispute between him and Muangthong United before moving to Cerezo Osaka, and most recently successfully directed the goalkeeper born in 1993’s move to "PSG Vietnam", Topenland Binh Dinh. It’s hard to imagine what would happen if Dang Van Lam had a Vietnamese agent instead of Andrey Grushin to stand on behalf of his interest in the legal battle vs Muangthong or in the negotiation process between two clubs from Thailand and Japan.
Some might say this is another article bragging about the "half-empty" side of Vietnam football. It’s really not. In fact, I just want to point out the fact that while the level of Vietnamese players has gradually approached the continental level in recent years, the level of other people working in the football business here: administrators, coaches, agents, etc hasn’t grown at the same pace. When our football talents are getting better and better and the globalization of Vietnamese football is increased, the role of football agents becomes more important. You can't just sit and wait for foreign teams to come to find you or entirely put your football fate into the hands of the club owners. Whether playing football in Vietnam or abroad, you need a proper companion, acting as a bridge to help you go to better destinations in your career. It’s nearly impossible for Nguyen Hoang Duc to play in Europe if his agent has never negotiated with a foreign club or is not aware of the current quota for foreign players in J1. And while waiting for a new generation of proper agents, we can’t blame Vietnamese players if they prefer to stay in Vleague instead of chasing the dream of playing abroad.