Hanoi Football Club star Nguyen Quang Hai has been listed as one of nine nominees for Asian Front Three by the prestigious sport website Fox Sports Asia.
Quang Hai made his way to the group of future stars together with Chanathip Songkrasin of Thailand and Safawi Rasid of Malaysia. All of them are key elements of their respective national teams and clubs.
| Quang Hai made his way to the group of future stars |
Nguyen Quang Hai, 23, plays as an attacking midfielder for Hanoi FC, which is in Vietnam’s top-tier V-League 1, and the Vietnamese national team.
Hai made up his name through junior to senior squads. He grabbed success that all Vietnamese players dream of. He pocketed silver with the U23 side at the 2018 championship, gold with the U22 at the 31st Southeast Asian Games in 2019 and an AFF Cup trophy last year.
The midfielder has received offers from clubs in Japan and Spain, but has chosen to stay with V-League 1 champions Hanoi FC to sharpen his skills before going abroad.
Hai was voted one of the Most Valuable Players of ASEAN and lifted the Golden Ball statue for national best player of the year in 2018. One year later, he was in the top 17 best footballers in Asia voted in the same award.
The player for Hanoi FC is regarded as among the first choices of South Korean head coach Park Hang Seo for the midfielder role in major tournaments played by Vietnam's national football team and U23 squad.
Last month, Hai joined dozens of footballers from the AFC in the ‘Break The Chain’ campaign to raise awareness of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
In a video, he urged everyone to “avoid gathering in crowded places, wear masks, and wash your hands regularly to protect yourself.”
On the 66th anniversary of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the verified Facebook page of Fox Sports Asia has compiled a list of nine of “Asia’s current heroes, future stars, and all-time legends”. Supporters can pick three to decide the winners.
The list includes Vietnam's Nguyen Quang Hai, Indonesia's Bambang Pamungkas, Iran's Ali Daei, Thailand's Chanathip Songkrasin, Singapore's Khairul Amri, South Korea's Son Heung Min, the Philippines' Stephan Schrock, Japan's Hidetoshi Nakata, and Malaysia's Safawi Rasid.
“Nine prolific attackers, but you can only pick THREE!” it wrote, asking fans to select their favorite front three out of the nine players.
