VietNamNet Bridge – The list of the top five referees of the 2013 football season has been finalized. Notably, the list does not have the name of Vo Quang Vinh, who won the Gold Whistle awards for the past two years.

Referee Vo Minh Tri performed well at international matches but he won only one Gold Whistle Award in 2010.

Vinh is absent from the list because he did not work in the second half of the season owing to his heel wound. Instead, the list sees the return of two referees who were in the absence in the last two seasons - Vo Minh Tri and Hoang Anh Tuan. The three others are Phung Dinh Dung, Hoang Pham Cong Khanh and Nguyen Trong Thu.

Without Vo Quang Vinh, the most outstanding candidate this year is veteran referee Vo Minh Tri. He is the only Elite referee of Vietnam who was used in many important matches in Asia by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

In the last season, referee Vo Minh Tri did not work regularly at the V-League since he was busy with international duty and was hired to work at the Chinese League. However, in the 11 games of V-League, Tri was highly appreciated by the VFF.

Two referees Nguyen Trong Thu and Hoang Anh Tuan also had a successful season. Nguyen Trong Thu has high average score and proved his skills in difficult games. Hoang Anh Tuan is also highly rated in many games.

Referee Phung Dinh Dung acknowledged the most controversial goal of the season in the game between Thanh Hoa and Sai Gon Xuan Thanh. However, the referee from Hanoi was highly scored in this game despite the strong reaction of Thanh Hoa.

This is the first time Hoang Pham Cong Khanh named in the list of the top 5 referees and he completed his tasks in many difficult matches.

The list of the five top referee assistants includes: Pham Manh Long, Tran Thanh Liem, Truong Duc Chien, Tran Minh Thang and Nguyen Trung Hau.

This annual award will be voted by experts and the results will be announced at the review ceremony of the 2013 football season.

Nam Nguyen