South Korea’s signature defender Kim Min-jae (27, Bayern Munich) has been shortlisted for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Awards International Player of the Year.
The AFC announced the nominees for the 안전카지노사이트 2022 AFC Awards on Wednesday (Nov. 13) in 18 categories.
Two South Korean players are among the nominees. Kim Min-jae is nominated for International Player of the Year, while Lee Seung-won (Gangwon FC), who won a bronze ball at the FIFA U20 World Cup, is nominated for Prospect of the Year.
Kim led Napoli to their first Italian Serie A title in 33 years last season, earning the league’s Most Valuable Player award, and was quickly recognized for his performances with a move to German giants Bayern Munich.
The International Player of the Year award recognizes players from AFC member associations who leave their home leagues to play abroad.
Kim will compete with Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton) and Mehdi Taremi (Porto) for the award.
It will be interesting to see if Kim becomes the second player to win the award after Son Heung-min (Tottenham). He has previously won the award four times, in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020.
Lee Seung-won, who is on the shortlist for Rookie of the Year, was the captain of the Kim Eun-Joong-ho, scoring three goals and providing four assists at the U20 World Cup in Argentina, which concluded in June. He led South Korea to the quarterfinals. Lee will compete with Amin Hazbavi (Iran) and Kuryu Machiki (Japan).
Meanwhile, Kim Eun-jung, head coach of the South Korea U-17 women’s national soccer team, has also been nominated for the Women’s Coach of the Year award, which will be presented on May 31 in Doha, Qatar.