Defender Doan Van Hau will go to Singapore to treat his heel injury, which may take up to six months to recover.
Van Hau suffered an enthesitis injury in his right heel and needed three to six months to fully recover. The last time the defender from Thai Binh played was the final round of phase two of V-League 2023 on August 27, helping Hanoi Police (CAHN) draw 8-1 with Thanh Hoa to win the championship. After that, he took a long break and missed the Vietnam team's September and October training sessions.
During his injury, Van Hau focused on preparing for the wedding with his girlfriend Doan Hai My on November 11. After that, he will go to Singapore to completely treat his injury with support from the host club.
Doan Van Hau (red shirt) played in Vietnam's 2-3 loss to the UAE in the second qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup in June 6. Photo: Lam Thoa
If it only takes three months to recover, Van Hau will miss 11 rounds with CAHN in the V-League. On the national team, he missed two qualifying matches for the second round of the 2026 World Cup against the Philippines and Iraq in November, then the Asian Cup in Qatar in January 11.
In the worst case, Van Hau faces the possibility of missing at least 22 V-League rounds, as well as the entire 2026 World Cup second qualifying campaign - ending on June 11, 6.
In the past, Van Hau suffered a torn external meniscus injury in his right knee from September 9, then re-injured himself in the second qualifying round of the 2020 World Cup in June 2022 and had to go to Korea for surgery. He officially returns in July 6 within the framework of round 2021 of the V-League.
Doan Van Hau is considered the best left back in Vietnam from 2018 up to now, so his absence causes the club and team to suffer great losses. At the national team training session in November, coach Philippe Troussier had three choices for the left back position: Vo Minh Trong (Binh Duong), Phan Tuan Tai (Viettel) and Trieu Viet Hung (Hai Phong).
Doan Van Hau was born in 1999 and grew up at the Hanoi youth training center. In 2017, he joined the Hanoi FC first team, contributing to six championships including V-League 2018 and 2022, National Cup 2020 and 2022, National Super Cup 2019 and 2021.
In the 2019-2020 season, Van Hau transferred to SC Heerenveen - becoming the first Vietnamese player to play for a team in the Dutch National Championship - but only had one appearance in the National Cup injury time. In 2023, he transferred to CAHN and immediately won the V-League championship.
In the national team, Van Hau has been a key factor in all the successes of Vietnamese football since 2016, including the 19 Asian U2016 fourth place, 20 FIFA U2017 World Cup, 23 Asian U2018 runner-up, 2018 AFF Cup champion, won the gold medal at the 2019 SEA Games and entered the third qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup.
Hieu Luong
