The naturalization of football players in Vietnam has always sparked controversy in public discourses. In the era of globalization, this issue is becoming more widely discussed than ever among the country’s citizens given that the national team’s lineup, after many years, still consists of only native players. What are the motives behind this retainment? What do they deal with? This discourse analysis aims to examine the Vietnamese media’s reflection on the naturalization of football through different platforms to observe and understand how nationalism, the strength of national manpower, and the quality of domestic players influence this decision-making progress.
