Quế Ngọc Hải

Quế Ngọc Hải (born 15 May 1993) is a Vietnamese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for V.League 1 club Becamex Bình Dương and is the vice-captain of Vietnam national team. He is considered one of the best defenders in V.League 1 history.

Ngọc Hải represented Vietnam at under-19 and under-23 level before making his full international debut in September 2014.

Trần Anh Khoa incident
In the 25th round of the 2015 V-League between Sông Lam Nghệ An and SHB Đà Nẵng, SHB Đà Nẵng midfielder Trần Anh Khoa was fouled by Quế Ngọc Hải of Sông Lam Nghệ An. Hải two-footed Khoa, hitting him in the knee. Khoa was unable to continue playing and was taken off the field on a stretcher. Khoa's injury was diagnosed as very serious and he had to travel to Singapore for surgery. Doctors estimated that he would need to rest for one year and had only a 50% chance of returning to the field. After the match, Hải was penalized by the VFF: he was banned from playing for six months and was ordered to pay for all of Khoa's medical expenses. The amount that Hải had to pay Khoa was around 800 million đồng.

On December 17, 2015, after SHB Đà Nẵng provided detailed costs of Anh Khoa's surgery, travel, medicine, etc., totaling 834 million đồng, Quế Ngọc Hải and a representative of Sông Lam Nghệ An handed over the money in cash to Anh Khoa. Of the above money, 400 million đồng was donated by Đoàn Nguyên Đức (Bầu Đức), 70 million đồng came from donations from the Sông Lam Nghệ An fan club, and the rest was provided by the sponsors of Sông Lam Nghệ An.

This foul effectively ended Trần Anh Khoa's professional football career.

Vietnam

 * Scores and results list Vietnam's goal tally first.

Personal life
Ngọc Hải was born in Diễn Châu District. At an early age, due to financial difficulties, he moved to Vinh, where his parents made a living as fruit sellers. Ngọc Hải and his older brother Ngọc Mạnh are very close and attended the Sông Lam Nghệ An football academy together. Ngọc Mạnh suffered a serious knee injury however, and with little money the family had to rely on Ngọc Hải to work hard and become professional, both to provide for his family and pay for his brothers surgery.

After scoring the opening goal against Indonesia in the 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup Ngọc Hải lifted his shirt to reveal a picture of Nguyễn Hữu Thắng to thank his former coach for the opportunities he gave him.

Honours
Sông Lam Nghệ An
 * Vietnamese National Cup: 2017

Viettel
 * V.League 1: 2020

Vietnam
 * AFF Championship: 2018; runner-up: 2022
 * AYA Bank Cup: 2016
 * VFF Cup: 2022

Individual
 * AFF Championship All-time XI: 2021
 * AFF Championship Best XI: 2014
 * ASEAN Football Federation Best XI: 2019