HÀ NỘI — The 2018 Fair Play Awards will be announced on March 11 in HCM City, HCM City Law newspaper has announced.

The annual awards aim at honouring sportsmanship, honesty and fair play over the last year.

The organisers have announced five candidates for the awards.

Việt Nam’s national U23 team raking snow to help midfielder Nguyễn Quang Hải score a great free kick against Uzbekistan in the final of the AFC U23 Championship tops the list.

The other nominees are Bùi Tiến Dũng, Đoàn Văn Hậu, Hà Đức Chinh and Nguyễn Quang Hải. They took part in VTV’s Điều ước thứ 7 (Seventh Wish) to help a little boy fulfill his dream after he was diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of 33 months.

Defender Đỗ Duy Mạnh pitching the Vietnamese flag in the snow in Changzhou, China in the AFC U23 Championship final last year is also a contender.

The fourth nomination is for the Việt Nam national team who celebrated scoring against Cambodia at the AFF Suzuki Cup 2018 with the No 9 jersey of striker Nguyễn Văn Toàn who couldn’t play because of injury.

Striker Nguyễn Anh Đức is the last on the list. Đức stepped in to stop fans throwing bottles onto the pitch in the qualifying match between Việt Nam and Malaysia in the AFF Suzuki Cup 2018. The referee had missed a foul on striker Nguyễn Công Phượng.

The awards will be based on votes from sports reporters, editors, supervisors, referees and football experts nationwide.

Việt Nam’s head coach Park Hang-seo will also attend this event. He will be given the Fair Play Glory award for people who have contributed and had a great influence on football in the country. — VNS