Viet Nam News
Football
HA NOI — Hoang Anh Gia Lai FC’s striker Nguyen Van Toan received the 2017 Fair Play Award at an annual event organised by HCM City Law newspaper yesterday in HCM City.
The national team player, who topped the list of five final nominees, finally took the honour due to his impressive behaviour during a match between Hoang Anh Gia Lai and FLC Thanh Hoa in the 12th round on April 8, 2017.
Toan tried to persuade his teammates and managers to continue the game while they wanted to give up to object the referee’s decisions, which according to them brought a negative result for Hoang Anh Gia Lai.
In that match, Hoang Anh Gia Lai lost 2-3.
Apart from the trophy, Toan was given VND40 million (US$1,800).
Earlier, the 21-year-old player and his teammates in the U-23 squad were also honoured as a Fair Play team as they had great success at the recent Asian Championship in China.
Organisers said the team brought home not only the silver medal but also made Vietnamese people proud with what they did. They made Viet Nam well known in Asia and the world. They were heroes of the nation.
Coach Mai Duc Chung who took care of both the national women’s and men’s team took the second prize while national women’s team player, Tran Thi Thuy Trang, who played football to save her mother suffering from cancer, came third.
Speaking at the ceremony, Viet Nam Football Federation’s (VFF) Tran Anh Tu said the Fair Play Award has played a big role in the growth of national football. The VFF would try its best to create a healthy environment so that football could strongly develop and see many more fair play players and behaviour.
More than 150 sports people including reporters, coaches, experts and other were invited to vote for the award, which ran for the sixth edition this year. — VNS