Nguyen Hoang Duc won the Best Player award in V-League 2023
Hoang Duc maintained stability during Viettel's challenging season, with outstanding contributions of five goals and five assists in 20 matches. He and his home team finished the season in third place with 32 points - six points less than the top two teams CAHN and Hanoi FC.
This award last season belonged to Nguyen Van Quyet. This season, Hanoi's captain striker continues to maintain his leading role, scoring nine goals and providing nine assists. However, he was not nominated due to an eight-match disciplinary sentence for an altercation with an assistant referee after the loss to Binh Dinh in round 7 of phase I.
In the coach category, the victory belonged to Bozidar Bandovic. Although he could not help Hanoi FC defend the throne, the 1969-born military leader is still highly appreciated. In the runner-up position, he and his students were only behind champion CAHN in terms of goal difference.
Last season, Hanoi FC also had difficulties when they lost captain Nguyen Van Quyet in seven V-League matches because of a suspension.
The Montenegrin coach surpassed coach Thach Bao Khanh (Viettel) and Chu Dinh Nghiem (Hai Phong) on the shortlist. Meanwhile, the Hanoi Police did not have a nomination due to two changes of coach. The person who could compete fairly with Bandovic, coach Velizar Popov of Thanh Hoa, lost points because of many penalty cards and was banned from directing one match.
Born in 1969, Bandovic was a defender who played for Red Star Belgrade, Olympiacos and PAOK. He retired in 2002 and pursued a coaching career as an assistant in Greek clubs. In 2014, he first went to Southeast Asia to work as Technical Director of Buriram United of Thailand, then led BEC Tero Sasana, Sisaket. In 2017, he returned to lead Buriram United to win two Thai League 1 championships in 2017 and 2018, and enter the 1/8 round of the 2018 AFC Champions League. After that, he went to India to work at Chennaiyin Club before coming to Hanoi. FC and has the title of National Super Cup 2022.
