Former goalkeeper Vo Van Hanh: 'Record holder' writes his name in SLNA history

Born in 1974 in Phu Yen, Vo Van Hanh came to football quite late. It was not until he was 17 years old that he started practicing his talent and then played for Phu Yen in the A2 tournament (equivalent to the current First Division). His family's economic conditions were difficult, with 5 siblings, Vo Van Hanh was the 4th child, so he had to save for half a year to have enough money to buy gloves and shoes for practice.

Coming to football only with the purpose of satisfying his passion, but the turning point in his career came when Song Lam Nghe An recruited him. In May 1998, the SLNA football team on the way to Khanh Hoa to compete, coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh and his team stopped in Phu Yen to stay overnight and the next morning rented Phu Yen stadium to practice.

The Nghe An team arrived 20 minutes early and sat in the stands to watch the Phu Yen team practice. From the stands, head coach Nguyen Thanh Vinh saw a talented goalkeeper with a good physique (1m79) and immediately, he discussed the matter with Vo Van Hanh, leader of Phu Yen Club, and set a date to bring him to Nghe An for a trial.

Goalkeeper Vo Van Hanh is always in the memory of Nghe An fans. Graphics: TK

In less than a year of joining SLNA, Vo Van Hanh became the team's number 1 goalkeeper and the first tournament that made his name was the 1999 Spring training tournament. In the final match against Cong An Ha Noi right at Hang Day Stadium, SLNA won the championship after a penalty shootout with Vo Van Hanh's excellent performance. Right in his first season with SLNA, Vo Van Hanh won the title of Best Goalkeeper of the tournament.

Working side by side with the talented generation of SLNA at that time such as Van Sy Hung, Van Sy Thuy, Ngo Quang Truong, Phan Thanh Tuan, Nguyen Van Tien, Nguyen Huu Thang, Nguyen Phi Hung and quality foreign players such as Iddi Batambuje, Lulenti Kyeyune, Enock Kyembe, goalkeeper Vo Van Hanh won 2 more V.League championships 1999-2000 and 2000-2001. Along with that were the titles of National Cup 2002, National Super Cup 2000, 2001, 2002.

In 2001, after winning the championship with SLNA, Vo Van Hanh surpassed famous players such as Do Khai and Hong Son to become the first goalkeeper of Vietnam to win the Golden Ball award. At the national team level, Vo Van Hanh was called up to the national team for 3 consecutive years, but during that period, he only played once in the 2 Tiger Cups of 1998 and 2000 that he participated in.

It can be said that wherever Vo Van Hanh went, he reaped success. After the 2002 season, when goalkeeper Duc Thang and The Anh gradually became stronger, he moved to play for HAGL and together with the mountain town team won the V.League 2003 and 2004 championships. During his time playing for SHB Da Nang from V.League 2005-2009, he and the Han River team won another National Championship.

Leaving SHB Da Nang at the age of 37, Vo Van Hanh returned to play for Khanh Hoa for a while and retired at the age of 39. After 23 years of wearing gloves and standing in the goal, Vo Van Hanh is considered a symbol of Vietnamese goalkeepers with 5 V.League championships, 1 National Cup, 4 National Super Cups and is also the goalkeeper with the most stable performance and the longest playing time at the top level.

People still talk about Vo Van Hanh as a special player with a good heart. In 1990, when he went to Hue, he saw many people going to the pagoda, chanting sutras but still having long hair and the young man from Phu Yen had a heart to follow Buddhism, eating vegetarian food every day. When he was still at SLNA, it became a habit, at exactly 5:00 am, Vo Van Hanh woke up, put on a brown shirt and chanted sutras, knocked on the wooden fish until it was time to go to practice...

Vo Van Hanh and the Vietnam Golden Ball award in 2001. Photo: ST

Becoming a professional player, reaping many successes, Vo Van Hanh is a "flawless" player. His life is more simple and rustic than normal. Once, after the season ended, he returned to his hometown but did not know that he was called to the national team because he did not use a mobile phone. Only when he read the newspaper did he know that he was called to the team and then packed his bags and left.

After retiring, Vo Van Hanh returned to his hometown to open a cafe but still studied to become a coach. Initially, he went to Ho Chi Minh City to work as a goalkeeper coach for PVF Center and then was invited by Coach Hoang Anh Tuan to join the Vietnam U19 team as an assistant goalkeeper coach.

In 2015, Vo Van Hanh helped the Vietnam U19 team win the Southeast Asian runner-up title and qualify for the U19 Asian Cup. A year later, Vo Van Hanh became the national team's goalkeeper coach under coach Huu Thang. Most recently, Vo Van Hanh and Ho Chi Minh City Club won the V.League 2019 runner-up title.

Coach Vo Van Hanh has temporarily put his career on hold to take care of his father. Photo: ST

However, right after finishing the successful 2019 season with TP. HCM, Vo Van Hanh was forced to leave the job he loved to return home to take care of his 80-year-old father to fulfill his filial duty. His mother passed away 2 years ago, and his father now lives with his brothers and sisters, but they also have families and are old.

At that time, when talking about SLNA, talking about the Central region, Vo Van Hanh still could not forget the beautiful memories with the Nghe An football team. The place with his teammates, the affectionate fans and the team that gave him the stepping stone to become one of the legendary goalkeepers of Vietnamese football.

The most favorite 11 SLNA players in the past 20 years

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