Vietnamese midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai is one of the top 24 nominees of the Best Footballers of Asia 2019 award held by China's Titan Sports newspaper.

Midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai (in red) is one of the top 24 nominees of the Best Footballers of Asia 2019 award (Photo: VNA)

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

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

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

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

The Vietnamese will be against other players such as last year winner Son Heung-min of the Republic of 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 Truong Anh Ngoc, to join the event.

Ngoc, of the Viet Nam News Agency's The Thao & Van Hoa (Sports & Culture) newspaper, has been the first and only Vietnamese journalist invited to vote for the yearly Ballon d'Or.

(Source: VNA)