VietNamNet Bridge – Bassey Akpan, who protected the goal of Nigerian national football squad for many years and is one of the best goalkeepers in Africa, has come to Vietnam to play for Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL).
The coming of Bassey Akpan is seen as a breakthrough of HAGL because the deadly weakness of this club is the goalkeeper position.

Bassey Akpan, 1.86m, was born in 1984 and played for Heartland FC in Nigeria before coming to Vietnam.

In 2001, he became a member of the U17 squad of Nigeria, which replaced Trinidad & Tobago at the U17 World Championship. At this tournament, Nigeria ranked second and Akpan was praised as the best goalkeeper.

Akpan played the first game for the national squad in March 2010. Since then he has proven his talent as the best goalkeeper in Nigeria. In 2010, he was the number one goalkeeper of the Nigerian national team which won the championship of the West African Football Union (WAFU) Cup.

Akpan won bronze medal at Nigerian National Football Cup with Sunshine Stars FC in 2002. In 2008, he left Bayelsa United FC to Heartland under a lending contract. Last year, he officially joined Heartland.

Akpan is now the most outstanding goalkeeper in Vietnam.

Just a week ago, HAGL recruited Korean coach Choi Yoon Gyum.

TA