Culture - Sports

Pham Thanh Luong wins Golden Ball prize

Pham Thanh Luong of Hanoi on April 13 beat his teammate Nguyen Van Quyet and Le Cong Vinh of Binh Duong to win the Golden Ball Award for the best Vietnamese footballer of the year.
Pham Thanh Luong of Hanoi on April 13 beat his teammate Nguyen Van Quyetand Le Cong Vinh of Binh Duong to win the Golden Ball Award for thebest Vietnamese footballer of the year.

In a ceremony held at HoChi Minh City's Ben Thanh Theatre, Luong, 27, took the prize for thethird time, having won the prize in 2009 and 2011.

In a vote participated in by 129 sports officials, football experts, coaches, referees and journalists, Luong won 180 points.

"Ifeel very happy at the moment after a year of hard competition. Thereis only one Golden Ball Award, and all players are contenders. I'm justthe lucky man tonight," Luong said at the ceremony.

"It's veryspecial to win this for the third time. I just dream of giving my allplaying football, bringing excitement to millions of fans in Viet Nam,"he said.

Nguyen Van Quyet of Hanoi took the Silver Ball prize, while Le Cong Vinh of Becamex Binh Duong received the Bronze Ball.

Vinh,who won the Golden Ball Prize three times in 2004, 2006 and 2007,failed to win the top prize for the best Vietnamese footballer of theyear for the fourth time.

Midfielder Nguyen Thi Tuyet Dung, of Ha Nam won the women's Golden Ball.

Two-timeGolden Ball winner Dang Thi Kieu Trinh of HCM City won the Silver Balland Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet of Hanoi took the Bronze Ball.

NguyenTuan Anh of Hoang Anh Gia Lai and striker Le Hoai Luong of HCM City wereawarded the best young men's and women's player titles.

Senegalese striker Abass Cheikh Dieng of Becamex Binh Duong was chosen the best foreign player.

TheAfrican player helped the southern team win the National FootballChampionship, V-League, in 2014. He scored 16 goals to rank third in thelist of top scorers.-VNA
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