Midfielder Nguyễn Quang Hải is competing against 23 other players for Best Footballer of Asia 2019 title. Photo vnmedia.vn

HÀ NỘI — National midfielder Nguyễn Quang Hải is one of the top 24 nominees of the Best Footballers of Asia 2019 award held by China's Titan Sports newspaper.

It is the second year in a row that Hải has made the list.

Hải played outstanding for V.League 1 and National Cup champions Hà Nội FC. He also helped the team advance to the final of this year AFC Cup.

On the international stage, Hải played a key role for Việt Nam's at the Asian Cup, AFC U23 Championship qualification and 2020 World Cup qualifier. He was unfortunately injured after playing three matches for Việt Nam who won the 30th SEA Games crown earlier this month.

He is voted best player of ASEAN in 2019 and is a member of Việt Nam national team who is best regional team of the year.

The Vietnamese will be against other players such as last year winner Son Heung-min of South Korea, Theerathon Bunmathan of Thailand, Takumi Minamino of Japan and Wu Lei of China. 

The winner will be announced in the next few weeks.

The vote is organised annually and this year Titan Sports invited about 50 prestigious journalists over Asia, including Vietnamese Trương Anh Ngọc, to join the event.

Ngọc, of the Vietnam News Agency's Thể Thao&Văn Hóa (Sports&Culture) newspaper, has been the first and only Vietnamese journalist invited to vote for the yearly Ballon d'Or. VNS