October 30 – South Korea and Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min was crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Son, who also won the prize in 2015, 2017 and 2019, takes the trophy from compatriot Kim Min-jae of Bayern Munich.
He won the award despite under-performing at the Asian Cup in January where a star-studded South Korean team led by Jurgen Klinsmann lost 2-0 in the semi-finals to the tournament’s surprise package Jordan.
Son was involved in an altercation involving a number of South Korean players at their hotel, during which Son dislocated a finger as he reportedly tried to break things up.
Australia’s Ellie Carpenter, who plays for French club Lyon, became the inaugural winner of the women’s international award. She edged fellow nominee Yui Hasegawa of Japan to the top prize, which was introduced in recognition of the growth of women’s football and the success of the continent’s top players.
The AFC has a separate prize for players based overseas and awarded its main player of the year awards to Al-Sadd’s Akram Afif of Qatar and Japan’s Kiko Seike.
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