HÀ NỘI — The organiser, HCM City Law newspaper, has announced five candidates for the Fair Play Awards 2017.

The annual football award aims to honour fair performances and rejection of violence.

Accordingly, striker Nguyễn Văn Toàn of Hoàng Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) topped the list. Toàn, born in the northern province of Hải Dương, advised his leaders and teammates to not cancel the match against Thanh Hóa in the 12th round of the V.League 2017. In this game, HAGL protested against the referee who awarded a goal unfairly to Thanh Hóa.

The second position belonged to Trần Thị Thùy Trang of HCM City. Trang determined to play well at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games as a sort of spiritual healing and to earn money to help her mother treat a life-threatening disease.

Coach Nguyễn Minh Phương of Long An ranked third in the nomination. Phương talked his players out of protesting after the referee didn’t recognise a goal by Long An in the match against Thanh Hóa at Long An Stadium.

The fourth nomination went to the Thái Sơn Nam futsal club. They ranked third at the AFC Futsal Club Championship held in HCM City. They also won the fair play award by the AFC at this tournament.

Coach Mai Đức Chung was in fifth place. Chung guided the Vietnamese national female football team to victory at the SEA Games held in Malaysia in August. He helped the female team earn a ticket to compete at the 2018 AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

Chung also replaced coach Nguyễn Hữu Thắng, who resigned after the men’s team was ousted from the qualifying round of the SEA Games, to lead the national men’s team to victory against Cambodia in the qualifying round of the Asian Cup 2019.

The award is based on nominations received from sports reporters, editors, supervisors, referees and football experts nationwide. 

The result will be publicised at the end of this month. — VNS