Similar to The Best FIFA Football Awards, the UMBRO Futsal Awards, which was initiated in 2000, honours the world’s futsal players who have stood out throughout the year, featuring the different categories of “Best Player”, “Best Goalkeeper”, “Best National Team Coach”, “Best National Team”, “Best Club Coach”, “Best Club”, “Best Young Player”, “Best Referee” and “Best Woman Player”.
With his significant contributions to Vietnam’s national futsal team, and especially Thai Son Nam Club during the 2018 season, Ho Van Y has received the honour of being among the top ten nominees for the “Best Goalkeeper” category.
This is the first time that a Vietnamese futsal player has been included in the list of nominees for the UMBRO Futsal Awards.
Ho Van Y (left) was voted the best goalkeeper of the 2018 HDBank National Futsal Championship in October.
In 2018, Ho Van Y delivered exceptional performances at the AFC Futsal Club Championship as he contributed to Thai Son Nam finishing runner-up at the tournament. In addition to his impressive ability to catch the ball, it was Ho Van Y who scored the decisive goal to help the Vietnamese club defeat the title favourites, Nagoya Oceans of Japan, in the quarterfinals.
In the colour of the national team, from a potential keeper, the 1997-born goalie has matured and surpassed veterans Ngo Dinh Thuan and Nguyen Van Huy to become the no. 1 choice of coach Miguel Rodrigo.
The winners of the 2018 UMBRO Futsal Awards categories will be announced on December 31.
Following are the top ten nominees for the “Best Goalkeeper of the World Award 2018”:
Miodrag Aksentijevic (Serbia)
Fernando Lopes Pereira “Careca” (Brazil)
Thiago Mendes Rocha “Guitta” (Brazil)
Leonardo De Melo Vieira Leite “Higuita” (Brazil/ Kazakhstan)
Jesús Herrero Parrón (Spain)
Michal Kaluza (Poland)
Stefano Mammarella (Italy)
Alireza Samimi (Iran)
Ho Van Y (Vietnam)
Georgi Tamazievich Zamtaradze (Russia)
