Organizers and voters for the 2012 Vietnam Golden Ball title are now faced with the most difficult task in the award’s 17-year history to determine the winner as none of the local men footballers seem to deserve the title. The Vietnam Golden Ball award has been annually organized by Saigon Giai Phong newspaper since 1995, but the title for a male player may not be able to find its 2012 owner as the national team has experienced a year full of disappointments. “If the organizers are not afraid of losing the tradition, I suggest not granting the golden award, or only selecting a player each for the silver and bronze titles,” said football expert Nguyen Van Vinh. Vinh said the winner must be a player that wins the heart of local fans. “But there are no such players and I thus don’t know who to cast my vote,” he added. “We should focus on the title for female players as the Vietnamese girls have won the 2012 Southeast Asian Women Football Championships,” he said. Coach Le Huynh Duc, who won the title three times in 1995, 1997, and 2002, holds a similar view, saying no male player deserves the title. “I don’t see any players that can be awarded the Golden Ball,” he told Tuoi Tre. “In my time, the organizers have once considered canceling the award as there was no deserving winner, so I think they should do so this time.” The veteran striker added that he will cast a white vote if the organizers still keeps the award. Even the players admit that there are no significant players over the last year to deserve the title. “The winner, if any, may fail to fully enjoy the honor as he himself knows that he didn’t have a successful year at the national team,” said goalie Duong Hong Son, the 2008 Golden Ball holder.Sponsor thinks twice Adding to the concerns of insiders about whether the award should be granted, Eximbank, the sponsor of the 2010 and 2011 events, is still considering if it should continue funding the 2012 event. “The editor-in-chief of Saigon Giai Phong newspaper has contacted me about the sponsorship, but I still cannot make up my mind as there is little interest in the award this time,” Eximbank chairman Le Hung Dung told Tuoi Tre. Dung said the bank can refuse to sponsor the award, but it will then be unfair for the female players, given the achievements they gained in 2012. “I think we should only grant the Silver and Bronze Ball awards,” he said.
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