Vietnamese star nominated for world’s best futsal goalie award

Futsalplanet Awards 2021 has nominated Ho Van Y for Best Men’s Goalkeeper in the World, the second time he has been shortlisted for the honour after 2018.

Y will compete for the award with Brazilian keepers Andre “Deko” Coelho, Thiago “Guitta” Rocha and Willian Dorn, Spain’s Didac Oltra and Federico Garrigos, Leonardo “Higuita” Leite (Kazakhstan), Nicolas Sarmiento (Argentina), Dmitri Putilov (Russia) and Alireza Samimi (Iran).

Guitta, Higuita, Sarmiento and Samimi were also got nominated in 2018. Higuita was the winner that year.

The Futsal World Cup 2021 in Lithuania was Vietnam’s second time the tournament. They made it past the group stage both times.

On average, Y made over 10 saves for Vietnam per game. Thanks to his contributions, Vietnam posted one win, one draw and one loss, which was enough for them to advance. In the round of 16, Vietnam were eliminated after losing 2-3 to world number four Russia.

The Futsalplanet Awards, presented by the renowned magazine FutsalPlanet, are awarded for the best individuals in international futsal every year. They have been presented since 2000, with the Best Men’s Goalkeeper in the World prize introduced in 2003.

Y, 25, is the only Vietnamese player to be nominated for the Futsalplanet Awards.