Que Ngoc Hai's sentence reduced, returning to play from round 4 of V-League

The central defender of Song Lam Nghe An was allowed to return to competition soon, after the decision to reduce his sentence from the Disciplinary Board of the Vietnam Football Federation.

Que Ngoc Hai was absent from recent international training sessions of the Vietnam national team and the Vietnam U23 team due to suspension. Photo: Duc Dong.

"The application for a reduced sentence for Que Ngoc Hai has just been approved by the Disciplinary Board. This defender will return to play on March 10 when Song Lam Nghe An visits Binh Duong in round 4 of the V-League," General Director of Song Lam Nghe An Football Joint Stock Company Nguyen Hong Thanh confirmed to VnExpress this afternoon, March 8.

According to the initial disciplinary decision, Ngoc Hai was suspended for six months from all domestic tournaments organized by VFF and VPF from September 18, 2015 to March 18, 2016. This penalty stemmed from the incident in which SLNA's central defender made a dangerous tackle, causing his colleague Anh Khoa to suffer a serious injury in a match against Da Nang in the 2015 V-League.

In addition to the suspension, Ngoc Hai also had to pay the entire cost of Anh Khoa's injury treatment in Singapore. This compensation fee amounted to 830 million VND. Despite the difficulty in raising money, the central defender from Nghe An paid in full, thanks to the help from Mr. Duc, sponsors, the club and fans.

Ngoc Hai's tackle that left Anh Khoa with multiple injuries appeared in a series of international newspapers and websites.

According to Mr. Hong Thanh, after SLNA submitted a request for a reduced sentence for Ngoc Hai, the VFF Disciplinary Board reviewed it and found that the central defender was remorseful, had corrected the incident he caused, paid full compensation and visited Anh Khoa during the time his colleague was receiving treatment for his injury. This was the decisive factor in helping Ngoc Hai get his sentence reduced.

According to VNE