'Captain' Son Heung-min Honored with AFC 'International Player of the Year' Award... Fourth Time Overall

Director Park Yoon-jung Awarded 'Female Leader of the Year'

Son Heung-min (Tottenham), captain of the South Korean national football team, received the AFC International Player of the Year award for the fourth time.

Son Heung-min was selected as the 'Men's International Player of the Year' at the 'AFC Annual Awards Seoul 2023' held on the 29th at Kyung Hee University Peace Hall in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul.

The AFC International Player of the Year award is given to an outstanding player from AFC member countries who performs excellently on overseas stages. Son Heung-min previously received this award in 2015, 2017, and 2019. Last year, Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) won the award, marking two consecutive years with a Korean recipient in this category.

On the afternoon of the 10th last month (local time), the third round of the North and Central America World Cup qualifiers match between South Korea and Oman was held at Sultan Qaboos Stadium in Muscat. Son Heung-min is celebrating after scoring a goal.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The AFC highly praised Son Heung-min for serving as Tottenham's captain during the 2023-2024 season, scoring 17 goals and providing 10 assists in the English Premier League (EPL). They also highlighted his contributions to the national team, leading South Korea to the semifinals of the AFC Asian Cup and participating in the 2026 CONCACAF World Cup Asian qualifiers.

Park Yoon-jung, coach of the women's under-20 (U-20) national team, received the 'Women's Coach of the Year' award. This is the second time a Korean football figure has received the women's coach award at the AFC Awards, following Kim Tae-hee, coach of the women's U-17 team in 2010. Coach Park led South Korea to 4th place at the U-20 Women's Asian Cup in March this year and advanced to the round of 16 at the U-20 World Cup held in Colombia last month.

Meanwhile, the Men's Player of the Year award went to Akram Afif (Al Sadd) who led Qatar to victory in the Asian Cup, and the Women's Player of the Year was awarded to Seike Giko (Japan). National team defenders Seol Young-woo (Crvena Zvezda) and Kim Hye-ri (Incheon Hyundai Steel), who were nominated for the men's and women's player of the year respectively, did not win.

The Men's and Women's Youth Players of the Year were awarded to Abosbek Fayzullaev (CSKA Moscow) from Uzbekistan and Chae Eun-young (Wolmido Sports Team) from North Korea, respectively. The Men's Coach of the Year award was given to Oiwa Go, coach of the Japan U-23 national team.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.