A flurry of activity ensues in the voting for Vietnam's year-end sports awards.

As is customary, at the end of each year, Vietnamese sports become bustling with award nominations to honor athletes and coaches who have achieved outstanding results. Cong Phuong and Anh Vien continue to be nominated in many categories of various awards.

Football had an unsuccessful year in the eyes of the fans. Photo: Dinh Vien.

Vietnamese sports are nearing the end of a year of competition, and whether successful or unsuccessful in any sport, the efforts of the athletes and coaches deserve recognition. Therefore, awards serve as a source of encouragement for them. This year, the voting process is and will continue to be very lively.

Continuing the tradition of awards

First and foremost is the oldest award in Vietnamese sports: the National Outstanding Athlete and Coach Award, organized by the Vietnam Sports Newspaper, the Vietnam Olympic Committee, the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. This year's award will be in its 38th year and will be held in December 2015. This award will also honor athletes and coaches with disabilities. In 2014, Anh Vien excelled and became the National Outstanding Athlete.

The Golden Ball is an award that attracts a lot of attention from Vietnamese football fans. This year, the 2015 Golden Ball awards will be held earlier than in previous years, with voting ending before December 31, 2015. The awards ceremony is expected to be held and announced in January 2016. Cong Phuong – the striker who was "empty-handed" from this award last year – is once again on the list of nominees this year.

Ho Chi Minh City, the cradle of many athletes and sports coaches, also has its own celebratory event called "Honoring Ho Chi Minh City Sports Talents," organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Sports Newspaper (the official publication of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture and Sports). The selection process will take place in mid-December 2015, and short reports about the key figures are currently being broadcast continuously on the Ho Chi Minh City Sports Newspaper's various channels.

Ánh Viên is likely to win many more individual titles in the awards for outstanding athletes. Photo: Internet.

Victory Cup – A new face in Vietnamese sports.

A new award, the "Victory Cup," has just been launched in Hanoi, also aiming to honor outstanding athletes, coaches, and especially the Vietnamese national sports teams. The voting process for the award will be conducted in two rounds from November 15, 2015 to January 1, 2016. Following this, a 21-member judging panel will honor only one person in each category.

This award has eight categories for outstanding male and female athletes, outstanding coaches, outstanding young athletes, outstanding teams, most popular athletes, most impressive sports images, and lifetime achievements. Notably, Cong Phuong is the only representative from football.

With the year ending for Vietnamese sports without any outstanding results for football, it's understandable that awards would go to other sports and athletes. The year-end awards will be an encouraging recognition to help athletes and coaches enter a more successful year of competition, thereby helping Vietnamese sports develop alongside the world.

According to BongDa