Son Heung-min voted top S. Korean footballer for 2024
South Korea captain Son Heung-min has been voted the country's top football player for 2024.
The Korea Football Association on Monday announced Son, also skipper for the Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur, as its Male Player of the Year for 2024.
The KFA launched its annual awards in 2010, and Son has now been named the top male player for a record eighth time.
Son previously won it for 2013, 2014, 2017 and then every year from 2019 to 2022.
Son, 32, is second on the South Korean men's scoring list with 51 goals, seven behind Cha Bum-kun, and is tied for third with 133 caps, three back of Cha and the current national team head coach, Hong Myung-bo.
Seattle Reign FC midfielder Ji So-yun was voted the Female Player of the Year for 2024. She is the record holder for the top women's award, having now claimed it for the eighth time.
Ji, 34, leads all South Korean female players with 163 caps and 72 goals.
The award winners were voted on by football journalists and members of the KFA's technical development committee.
Son collected 109 voting points to hold off Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae, the 2023 winner, by five points. Ji finished one point ahead of Suwon FC Women striker Kang Chae-rim at 62 points.
Among other winners, Yang Min-hyeok of Queens Park Rangers (QPR) was voted the Male Young Player of the Year. Yang, 18, took the K League 1 by storm last year for Gangwon FC, winning the Young Player of the Year award and earning an MVP nomination. He signed for Tottenham last summer but was loaned to QPR in January.
Kim Shin-ji of AS Roma was the Female Young Player of the Year. The 20-year-old midfielder joined the Italian side in February after starring for South Korea at the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.
The KFA had to scrap plans to hold the awards ceremony in January when its president election was postponed to February. (Yonhap)
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