The Young Player Award went to Hwang Jae-won and Casey Eugene, while the Leader Award went to Kim Ki-dong and Kim Eun-sook.
Kim Min-jae (28, Bayern Munich) was selected as the 2023 Korea Football Association (KFA) Player of the Year, beating Son Heung-min (32, Tottenham), who had been aiming for the award for five consecutive years. The women’s division was won by Cheon Garam (22, Hwacheon KSPO).
KFA will hold the ‘2023 KFA Awards’ at the Mayfield Hotel in Seoul at 5 p.m. on the 2nd, attended by about 200 people, including soccer industry officials and national team players, and give awards in major categories such as ‘Player of the Year’.
Prior to the awards ceremony, KFA first introduced the winners.
‘Player of the Year’ is an award given to the male and female soccer player who has performed the best for the national team and his/her team during the year. Since 2010, the Football Association has been selecting experts and football reporters.
The men’s player of the year was selected through voting by 50 people, including the football team leader from the media affiliated with the Football Association, the association’s technology development committee member, and the national team’s strength enhancement committee member.
Kim Min-jae finished in second place behind Son Heung-min in 2021 and 2022 in a row, but in this vote, he earned a total of 137 points and confidently took first place.
Son Heung-min, who has won the most awards ever (7 times), aimed for KFA Player of the Year for five consecutive years, but was pushed out by Kim Min-jae with 113 points and took second place. Third place is Lee Kang-in (23, Paris Saint-Germain), who scored 84 points.
Minjae Kim played a key role in winning the Italian Serie A with Naples (Italy) in the first half of 2023. Afterwards, he moved to Munich, the best team in the Bundesliga, and boasts an impeccable defense.
He has had his best year yet with the national team, appearing in eight A matches this year and keeping six consecutive clean sheets. It has been eight years since Kim Young-kwon (Ulsan HD) in 2015 that a defender was selected as Player of the Year.
The Women’s Player of the Year was decided by votes from WK League coaches, women’s national team coaching staff, and full-time women’s coaches of the Korea Football Association. After a close battle, Garam Cheon became the protagonist with a total score of 20 points, beating Ji So-yeon (33, Suwon FC Women), the highest winner of all time, by one point.
Cheon Garam, who mainly plays as a side midfielder, played an active role in this year’s Women’s World Cup and Asian Games, scoring 4 goals in 12 A matches, emerging as the new ace of the women’s national team. In the WK League, he also played a key role in helping his team Hwacheon KSPO rise to second place in the regular league, the team’s highest ever record. 파워볼사이트
Both players, Kim Min-jae and Cheon Garam, who were selected as men’s and women’s players of the year, are receiving this award for the first time in their lives.
In addition, the winners of the 2023 young player, leader, and referee categories were also confirmed.
The Young Player Award, given to promising men and women, will be given to Hwang Jae-won (22, Daegu FC), the star of the Hangzhou Asian Games gold medal, and Casey Eugene Pair (17, independent), who became the youngest player in Women’s World Cup history and has established himself as the future of the national team.
The Leader of the Year Award went to coach Kim Ki-dong (currently of FC Seoul), who led the Pohang Steelers to the FA Cup win and K-League runner-up, and coach Kim Eun-sook, who achieved a record of winning the WK League for 11 consecutive years.
The referee of the year award went to Ko Hyeong-jin, Park Sang-jun (male head and assistant referees), Oh Hyeon-jeong, and Kim Gyeong-min (female head and assistant referees) respectively.
◆List of major winners at the 2023 KFA Awards
▲Player of the Year = Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Cheon Garam (Hwacheon KSPO)
▲Young Player of the Year = Hwang Jae-won (Daegu FC), Casey Eugene Pair (Independent)
▲Leader of the Year = Kim Ki-dong (FC) Seoul), Kim Eun-sook (Incheon Hyundai Steel)
▲Referee of the Year = Go Hyeong-jin (male referee), Oh Hyeon-jeong (female referee), Park Sang-jun (men’s assistant referee), Kim Gyeong-min (female assistant referee)
▲KFA 90th Anniversary Special Contribution Award = Nike / Cho Gwang-rae, Daegu FC CEO / Late coach Jong-hwan Park 카지노사이트존
