Son Heung-min, Ji So-yun win Korea's top football award, again

Son Heung-min and Ji So-yun were named Korea’s best male and female footballers on Friday, each taking the award for a seventh time after a solid year for Korean men’s and women’s football.

Son Heung-min, left, and Ji So-yun won the Korea Football Association's 2022 Player of the Year awards on Friday. [YONHAP]

Son Heung-min and Ji So-yun were named Korea’s best male and female footballers on Friday, each taking the award for a seventh time after a solid year for Korean men’s and women’s football.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced Friday that talismanic national team captain Son had been voted Male Player of the Year for 2022, taking the title for a fourth consecutive year and a seventh in total.

Son won the award with 182 points after voting by officials and journalists, beating center-back Kim Min-jae with 34 points.

The award comes at the end of a strong year for Son, both on the league and national stage.

The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder became the first Asian footballer to win the Premier League Golden Boot in May, scoring two goals in the very last game of the season to tie with Liverpool’s Mo Salah for the top goal scoring award.

Son played a crucial role in Antonio Conte’s side last season, helping to lead Spurs to a fourth-place finish and a Champions league spot. Spurs are in fourth place again this season and, after a fairly sluggish start, Son has once again taken up his regular role at the heart of the London club’s attack.

But disaster struck for Son at the start of November when he sustained an orbital fracture during a Champions League game against Marseille, taking him out of the Spurs squad for the rest of the month and potentially out of the Korean squad at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Son fought through that pain, undergoing surgery and appearing in all four of Korea’s Qatar games wearing a carbon-fiber mask.

Son had a busy year with the national team, appearing in 12 games including World Cup qualifiers, international friendlies and the World Cup itself. He scored five goals for Korea this year, four in friendlies and one in a March qualifier against Iran.

At the World Cup, Son led Korea to a round of 16 finish, beating Portugal, tying with Uruguay and losing to Ghana and Brazil. He picked up one assist during the tournament on the crucial extra time Hwang Hee-chan goal against Portugal that carried Korea through to the knockout stage.

Alongside the Golden Boot, Son also finished 11th in the running for the 2022 Ballon d’Or, the highest finish ever achieved by an Asian footballer.

Ji, who was named Female Player of the Year for the seventh time, had a quieter year on the club football front.

Ji started the year in England where she played for Super League club Chelsea and was generally considered one of the greatest international players ever to play in the English league.

But after over 200 appearances, five Super League titles, three FA Cups, one community shield, two Continental Cups and multiple player of the year awards, Ji decided in May this year that she was going to give up some of that glory to return to Korea and join Suwon FC Women, hoping to help grow the local game ahead of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Ji, the all-time Korean top goal scorer across both men’s and women’s football, led the national team to a second-place finish at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in February, losing 3-2 to China in the final. The tournament acted as an important tune-up game for Korea ahead of the 2023 World Cup next summer.

Son and Ji were not the only player’s recognized on Friday, with the KFA also recognizing Korea’s biggest rising stars.

Gangwon FC midfielder Yang Hyun-jun was named Young Player of the Year for the K League, with Chun Ga-ram of Ulsan College taking the women’s award.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]