Vietnamese striker Le Cong Vinh has been named the best player in Southeast Asia in an online voting contest organised by sports online newspaper Goal.

Vinh, who has won Vietnamese Golden Ball for three times, beat 20 nominees from other Southeast Asian countries to win the award.

Striker Le Cong Vinh is the best player in Southeast Asia

His opponents included Shahril Ishak, Hariss Harun, Baihakki Khaizan, and Izwan Mahbud (Singapore), Teerasil Dangda, Theeraton Bumnathan, and Kawin Thamsatchanan (Thailand), Stephan Schrock, Javier Patino, and Phil Younghusband (the Philippines), Mahali Jasuli, Khairul Fahmi, Safee Sali, and Aidil Zafuan (Malaysia), Boaz Solossa and Sergio van Dijk (Indonesia), Kyi Lin (Myanmar), Visay Phaphouvanin (Laos), and Khim Borey (Cambodia).

According to the organising board, Vinh got a total of 68.6% of votes in favour, far exceeding second placed Khim Borey (Cambodia) who just gained 29.3% of votes and third placed Shahril Ishak (Singapore) with 1.2% of votes.

The Nghe An-born player has received great support from his fans after he signed a contract for his home FC Song Lam Nghe An during this football season.

The 2012-2013 Southeast Asia Award is believed to motivate Vinh to perform well in Japan under a  with Japanese FC Consadole Sapporo.

On August 4, Vinh left for Japan’s Hokkaido island where Sapporo players are training. He is due to experience a medical check-up on August 6 and have first training sessions in the new club the same day.