Nguyen Xuan Son: Foreign player who helped Vietnam win big, once suspected of age fraud

In the last match, Nguyen Xuan Son scored twice to help Vietnam win 5-0 over Myanmar. This was his first time wearing the national team jersey.

Rafaelson Bezerra Fernandes, also known as Rafaelson or Nguyen Xuan Son, was born on March 30, 1997 in Pirapemas, a town in the state of Maranhao, is a Vietnamese-Brazilian professional footballer. He currently plays as a striker for V.League 1 club Nam Dinh Blue Steel and the Vietnam national football team.

Xuan Son grew up in the Bahia club's training center, then moved to Vitória. In 2015, in a match at the Campeonato Baiano, he scored to help Vitória (then using the U20 team to participate in the tournament) win against Bahia - the striker's former team.

Bahia then complained to the organizers that Xuan Son had falsified his age. "Accordingly, this player was 21 years old, not 18 as on his birth certificate. However, the club affirmed that this was just a mistake in the registration information of the player's brother," Bahia Noticias reported.

Vitória Club later provided evidence in the form of documents kept by the hospital and Xuan Son's family confirming that the player was born on March 30, 1997. The Brazilian team confirmed that he was legally registered to play.

According to Bahia Noticias, information about Xuan Son's age has never been mentioned. The tournament organizers only received complaints after the striker, born in 1997, played impressively and helped Vitória win. The incident ended after all information about the player's profile was verified. No punishment was given and he continued to play normally.

In September of the same year, Xuan Son was promoted to the first team by coach Vágner Mancini and made his professional debut when he came on as a substitute for Robert in the second half in a 1–2 home loss to Botafogo in Serie B. On 31 October, he scored his first goal and the last goal in Vitória's 2–3 loss to Náutico.

In total, Xuan Son played 7 matches for the club in Serie B in the 2015 season, helping the team gain promotion to Serie A the following season. On June 30, 2016, the 27-year-old striker made his debut in Brazil's top football league, Serie A, when he came on as a substitute for Tiago Real in a 3-2 home win over Sport.

In 2018, Xuan Son was bought outright from Vegalta Sendai after a loan period. But here the male player disappointed because he almost did not play any matches. On April 13, 2019, after 2 years playing for Vegalta Sendai, 9x moved to Denmark and joined Nstved BK.

On January 12, 2020, Nstved Club suddenly announced that they had sold Xuan Son to Duoc Nam Ha Nam Dinh. In his first time coming to V.League, he scored 6 goals in the domestic league and 2 goals in the National Cup. After an impressive season for Nam Dinh, the 27-year-old striker moved to play for SHB Da Nang.

In the 2021 season, Xuan Son maintained his form with 6 goals after 12 matches in the V.League that year. On February 25, 2022, he officially debuted for Topenland Binh Dinh in the match against Viettel in the opening round of the V.League 2022. This was a match in which the male player played well but was unlucky when he had to send the ball to the goal post of the away team twice.

Four days later, in the match where Binh Dinh played away at Song Lam Nghe An, Xuan Son scored his first goal for the team and also assisted Jermie Lynch in the 2-1 victory. On September 2 of the same year, he scored a hat-trick to help Topenland Binh Dinh defeat Hanoi 3-0 right at Hang Day Stadium.

On August 29, 2023, Xuan Son returned to play for his old team, Nam Dinh Steel Blue. He scored his first goal in the opening match of V.League 1 2023-24 against Quang Nam, from a penalty in extra time to help his team win 2-1.

At the Vietnam Golden Ball Awards ceremony held on February 19, 2024, Xuan Son won the Best Foreign Player award after his previous performances in the 2023 season. On May 26, he scored 5 goals against Dong A Thanh Hoa in a 5-2 win over Nam Dinh, bringing his total to 26 goals.

With this achievement, Xuan Son broke the record for the number of goals in a National Championship season of Le Huynh Duc (25 goals in 1996) and equaled the record for the most goals scored in a V.League match of Nguyen Dinh Viet (5 goals in 2007).

On June 25, the 27-year-old striker scored another hat-trick in a 5-1 victory over Khanh Hoa, helping Nam Dinh win the championship one round early, also his first V.League championship. At the V.League Awards 2024 ceremony, this young man won the title of Best Player and was included in the typical lineup of the tournament.

On August 22, the Standing Vice Chairman of the Nam Dinh Provincial People's Committee - Tran Anh Dung said that this agency had received a request for Vietnamese citizenship for player Rafaelson Bezerra Fernandes submitted by the Nam Dinh Provincial Department of Justice.

In his application, the 27-year-old striker wrote about his desire to contribute to the Vietnam national team and requested to take the Vietnamese name Nguyen Xuan Son. On the evening of September 20, the Nam Dinh Steel Club announced that it had completed the naturalization procedure for him.

In November 2024, FIFA allowed Xuan Son to represent the Vietnam national team after 5 years of residence in the S-shaped strip of land. He was named in Vietnam's preliminary list for the 2024 ASEAN Football Championship. He then continued to appear in the official list for the tournament.

On December 21, Xuan Son became the first player in history who is not of Vietnamese blood to play and score for the national team in an international tournament. He scored two goals and made two assists in his debut for the Vietnamese national team in a 5-0 win over Myanmar in the group stage of the 2024 ASEAN Cup. Meanwhile, Quang Hai and Tien Linh only contributed one goal each.

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