Hanoi (VNA) - Striker Nguyen VanToan of Hoang Anh Gia Lai FC won the 2017 Fair Play Award at an annual eventorganised by Ho Chi Minh City Law newspaper in HCM City on March 14.
Toan, who topped the list with 469 points, tookthe honour due to his impressive behaviour during a match between Hoang Anh GiaLai and FLC Thanh Hoa in the 12th round on April 8, 2017.
He tried to persuade his teammates andmanagers to continue the game while they wanted to give up to object to thereferee’s decision, which, they said, brought a negative result for Hoang AnhGia Lai.
In that match, Hoang Anh Gia Lai lost 2-3.
Apart from the trophy, Toan received 40million VND (1,800 USD).
Coach Mai Duc Chung, who coached both thenational women’s and men’s team, took the second prize while national women’steam player Tran Thi Thuy Trang, who played football to save her mothersuffering from cancer, came third.
Chung gained 414 points while Trang obtained 368 points.
The organising board also gave the fourth and fifth prizes to Futsal Thai SonNam team with 315 points, and Nguyen Minh Phuong, coach of the Long An Club, with276 points, respectively.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Vietnam FootballFederation’s (VFF) Tran Anh Tu said the Fair Play Award has played a big rolein the growth of national football. The VFF would try its best to create ahealthy environment so that football could strongly develop and see many morefair play players and behaviour.
More than 150 sports people includingreporters, coaches, experts and other were invited to vote for the award, whichran for the sixth edition this year. - VNA