Nguyễn Quang Hải (footballer, born 1997)


Nguyễn Quang Hải is a Vietnamese professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Hà Nội F.C and Vietnam national football team. In 2018, he was voted by a panel of sports journalists and football experts as among the top 15 of Best Footballer in Asia. In 2019, he was voted as among the top 17 best footballers in Asia. He is considered as one of the best Vietnamese footballers of his generation.

International career

Vietnam under-16

Nguyễn Quang Hải was called up for the 2012 AFC U-16 Championship Qualification at age of only 14.

Vietnam under-19

After an impressive performance in the 2014 under-19 National Championship, Quang Hải was called up to the National U-19 side. He went on to represent the under-19 team in the 2014 AFF U-19 Youth Championship and the Bruneian Hassanal Bolkiah Championship, where Vietnam finished as runner-up on both occasions.
He made a significant contribution in the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship campaign. In the first game against North Korea, he assisted Hồ Minh Dĩ in Vietnam's opening goal. Vietnam went on to beat host Bahrain in the Quarters-final, thus qualified for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup. This was Vietnam's first appearance in a youth FIFA World Cup tournament.
He captained the Vietnam national under-20 football team in the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup group stage matches against U-20 Honduras and U-20 France.

Vietnam Under-23 and Olympic Vietnam

Quang Hải was first called up to the under-23 national team for a friendly against the U-23 Malaysia in February, 2017. He was then included in the Vietnam squad for the 2017 Southeast Asian Games. In the decisive game against Thailand, he was on the bench for the first half, and immediately made an impact in the second one, being fouled by Ratthanakorn Maikami in the penalty area. Nguyễn Công Phượng, however, missed the spot-kick as Vietnam lost 3-0 and was eliminated.
The appointment of head coach Park Hang-seo saw a significant improvement in the under-23 team hierarchy, as Quang Hải started becoming untouchable in the team's front 3. He was widely praised as a national hero during the in the historic 2018 AFC U-23 Championship campaign, as the U-23 Vietnam upset major title contenders en route to their very first continental final.
Hải had been instrumental for the team from the group stage, scoring both of the team's two goals. The one against Australia national under-23 soccer team would ensure him a Man of the match award. He also converted his penalty kick during the shootout in the quarters-final against Iraq national under-23 football team, thus secured Vietnam a spot in the semi-final. Quang Hải's performance against the Qatar national under-23 football team in the semi-final was widely believed to be his most plausible. Hải leveled the score with a low range half-volley in the 69th minute, only for Almoez Ali to regained Qatar's lead in the 87th. He immediately struck back, beautifully controlled the loose ball following a free-kick, then faking a shot to dribble past through 2 defenders flamboyantly before placing the shot into the far corner; all happened within a minute from the Almoez Ali's goal. He later missed his own in the penalty-shootout, but Vietnam ended up winning 4-3 and advanced to the final. In the final, Hải once again impressed, equalized the score with a free-kick goal. The goal, nicknamed "rainbow in the snow" by the media, has become a symbol for the unprecedented emotional excitement brought to the Vietnamese people by the historic campaign, as well as the national spirit that goes with it. The goal was later voted as the goal of the tournament. Vietnam, however, lost to the U-23 Uzbekistan in the last minute of extra time.
He was widely considered to be one of the best players of the tournament, being inducted into several teams of the tournament by various sources. His ability to score from long range was one of the key technical talking points mentioned by the AFC. There were even aggressive criticisms by the Southeast Asian media towards the AFC for not awarding the Most Valuable Player to Quang Hải. At the end of the tournament, Hải, along with teammate Bui Tien Dung, was awarded the 3rd class Labor Order for his impressive performance.
Quang Hải was named into Vietnam’s Asian Games 2018 lineup. Quang Hải scored 1 goal in Vietnam’s 3-0 win over Pakistan. In a match against Japan, he would score the only goal of the match as Vietnam defeated Japan to top the Group. Vietnam would later go all the way to the Semi Finals for the first time in their history at the Asian games, where they were defeated by South Korea 3-1. Vietnam would later lose to the UAE in a penalty shootout in the Bronze Medal Match.
Quang Hải captained and scored 1 goal for Vietnam in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in a 6-1 win against Laos before he was injured in a match against Singapore and missed the rest of the tournament. However, Vietnam would still go on without him to defeat Indonesia in the Final for the gold medal, their first gold in the SEA games football competition since South Vietnam won in 1959.

Vietnam National Football Team

On 13 June 2017, Quang Hải made his international debut for the Vietnam senior team, against Jordan, in a match that ended in a 0–0 draw. He scored his first senior goal for Vietnam against Cambodia on 5 September 2017, coming on as a substitute and scored a late winner.
In the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup Quang Hải played every very minute but 2 as Vietnam won its first Southeast Asian football championship in 10 years. In the first 3 games of the group stages, he was given a midfield position by head coach Park Hang-seo, which raised the question among the fans. In the last one against Cambodia, he reclaimed a slot in the front 3 and was immediately awarded Man of the match. He played as an advanced playmaker for the rest of the tournament, being awarded Man of the match twice. The first one was in the semi-final second leg against the Philippines national football team, where he broke the deadlock and helped secure the first home win in the knockout phase of the AFF Championship for Vietnam. The last one was clinched as he assisted Nguyễn Anh Đức the winning goal in the final against the Malaysia national football team. At the end of the tournament, he was a part of the team of AFF Cup's Best XI, and was chosen as the Most valuable player. He was honorably given the 2nd class Labor Order by Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc. He won the Vietnamese Golden Ball few days later, thanks largely to his performance in the AFF Championship.
Quang Hải gained international reputation in 2019 AFC Asian Cup when he played an instrumental part on Vietnam's amazing run in the tournament, including a stunning free kick goal against Yemen as Vietnam won 2–0, and sneaked into the Knockout rounds. Vietnam would defeat Jordan in the Round of 16, but fell short 1-0 to the eventual runners up of the tournament, Japan in the quarterfinals. Quang Hai was also nominated to be one of ten best U-21 players in the tournament.

International goals

Olympic

#DateVenueOpponentGoalResultCompetition
117 August 2017Selayang, Malaysia14-12017 Southeast Asian Games
214 August 2018Cikarang, Indonesia13–02018 Asian Games
319 August 2018Cikarang, Indonesia11–02018 Asian Games
428 November 2019Biñan, Philippines16-12019 Southeast Asian Games

Vietnam

NoDateVenueOpponentGoalResultCompetition
1.5 September 2017Phnom Penh Olympic Stadium, Phnom Penh, Cambodia12–12019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
2.8 November 2018New Laos National Stadium, Vientiane, Laos13–02018 AFF Championship
3.24 November 2018Hang Day Stadium, Hanoi, Vietnam13–02018 AFF Championship
4.6 December 2018Mỹ Đình National Stadium, Hanoi, Vietnam12–12018 AFF Championship
5.16 January 2019Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates12–02019 AFC Asian Cup
6.10 October 2019My Dinh Stadium, Hanoi, Vietnam11–02022 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Club

Sài Gòn FC
Hà Nội FC
Vietnam U23
Vietnam Olympic
Vietnam