From rejection to immense love: Journey of naturalized footballer Nguyen Xuan Son and wife

"At that time, I was only 15 years old and wanted to concentrate on my studies," Seippel, now 25, says. "More importantly, I didn’t want to date a football player."

Seippel is the eldest of three children in her family in Salvador municipality in Brazil. Her father works as a chef and her mother is employed in commerce, with their family’s primary income coming from her father’s pizza shop.

She met Son, now 27, at a Christmas party at a friend’s home in Salvador. The football player was immediately smitten with her, but she did not reciprocate his feelings initially. After several encounters Son professed his love but was rebuffed every time.

Nonetheless, Son visited Seippel’s home daily after practice to assist her with baking and delivering goods. His persistent sincerity eventually endeared him to her, and they became each other’s first loves.

Son hails from the Brazilian state of Maranhão. His father is a teacher, and his mother is a janitor.

His father and brother also played football, but it was Son who was fervent about pursuing a football career from a young age. His parents completely supported his dream, and, when he turned seven, provided him with money saved over months to buy his first pair of football shoes.

"That year we were so poor that we didn’t own a vehicle, and I had to walk eight kilometers to the shoe store," Son reminisces about his first football purchase.

At 14 he left home to join a youth team in Salvador, where he eventually met Seippel.

Naturalized striker Nguyen Xuan Son (L) and his wife Marcele Seippel in a commemorative photo when he officially became a Vietnamese citizen. Photo courtesy of Son

After dating for three years Seippel recognized that Son’s ambition to pursue a football career was also a means to lift his family out of poverty.

"That is why I decided to stay with him even amid an uncertain future," she says.

They married in 2018 when Seippel started university. But that same year Son accepted an offer to play in Japan, posing a challenge for the newlyweds if Seippel pursued her university studies.

"I believed I could resume my studies anytime, but my love for him was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Seippel says about her decision to abandon her studies and accompany him overseas.

The challenges began immediately: Right during his first practice session in Japan, Son suffered a severe injury necessitating a lengthy recovery. During his convalescence, Seippel managed everything alone while caring for her husband, offering encouragement and aiding in his personal care.

It was six months before Son could begin his rehabilitation.

"That period was exceedingly tough, yet I saw his unwavering determination and his refusal to surrender," she says.

Nguyen Xuan Son and his wife Marcele Seippel with their second son Luccas, shortly after his birth in 2023. Photo from Seippel’s Facebook

Finding limited opportunities to advance his career in Japan, Son opted to relocate to Denmark a year later, with Seippel accompanying him. But he found few prospects there either.

In 2020 Son received an offer from Vietnamese club Nam Dinh, so the couple moved again to Vietnam.

Seippel admits: "When I first arrived in Vietnam it took me two weeks to muster the courage to walk on the streets. The huge number of motorcycles terrified me."

But the congeniality of the Vietnamese people and the local climate, which was similar to that of her hometown in Brazil, enabled her to adjust quickly. The biggest challenge after five years in the country remains her limited Vietnamese language skills.

While her husband pursued football, Seippel took charge of the household chores, cooked, cleaned, adjusted to the new environment, and befriended locals. She was pregnant and gave birth during the peak of the Covid pandemic, a stressful period alleviated somewhat by the support of Vietnamese friends.

They now have two sons, Matteo, age three, and Lucca, one. Initially Seippel had assistance from a cousin who came from Brazil, but she now manages the children independently, allowing her husband to concentrate fully on his football career. She is grateful her children have adapted well to life in Vietnam.

Thao Huyen, 40, a friend of the couple’s, thinks Seippel embodies the traits of a traditional Vietnamese woman.

"She consistently provides excellent care and indulges her husband and children, even though managing two young children alone is incredibly challenging."

Son typically finishes training at 6-7 p.m.

If Seippel is out with Huyen, she makes it a point to return home by then to prepare dinner for her husband. Aware of Son’s preference for braised fish and sweet cassava dessert, Seippel learned how to make them from Huyen.

"Despite being together for 10 years their relationship remains as intimate as that of newlyweds," Huyen comments.

Marcele Seippel and her children celebrate with Nguyen Xuan Son his team, Nam Dinh FC, winning the national Super Cup championship in 2024. Photo courtesy of Son

On Oct. 15, 2024, Son became a Vietnamese citizen and was called up by coach Kim Sang Sik for the ASEAN Cup. After netting two goals against Thailand in the first leg of the ASEAN Cup final on Thursday evening, Son established a new record for the highest number of goals scored by a Vietnamese player in an ASEAN Cup match, accumulating a total of 7 goals.

Following the second leg of the semi-final against Singapore at Viet Tri stadium in the northern province of Phu Tho, Son acknowledged on social media his wife’s support behind his success.

"You are immensely important to me for always believing in and standing by me during the worst and best moments of my life," he wrote.

"Choosing you was the best decision I’ve made. I will always love you like this."