The Korea Football Association (KFA) hosted the “2023 KFA Awards” at the Mayfield Hotel in Seoul at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. More than 200 people, including soccer officials and national team players, attended the ceremony. The KFA presented the direction of Korean football and held award ceremonies for major categories including “Player of the Year.”
The “Player of the Year” is an award given to Korean male and female soccer players who have performed the best in the national team and their teams throughout the year. Since 2010, KFA has commissioned experts and soccer reporters to select winners.
Kim Min-jae (28, Bayern Munich), who has emerged as the world’s best defender, has been named the Men’s Player of the Year. Kim Min-jae ranked first with a total of 137 points in voting. He ranked second in 2021 and 2022 behind Son Heung-min (32, Tottenham Hotspur), but 2023 was different.
“It’s such an honor. I know it’s a message to do better in the future. It’s obvious, but I’ll try harder in the future,” Kim said.
Kim Min-jae, who led SSC Napoli to the league title for the first time in 33 years in 2023, moved to Bayern Munich, Germany’s “giant” in the 2023-2024 season, and immediately took the main spot. Kim Min-jae also had difficult moments.
After the match against Uruguay on March 28 last year, Kim Min-jae’s mixed-zone interview burned down among fans.
During the interview, Kim told reporters, “I’m tired. My mentality is very broken. For the time being, I’m going to focus only on my team. I just want to pay more attention to my team than to the national team because it’s hard to play soccer.”
In an interview that can also be seen as a “retirement of the national team,” Kim Min-jae later said, “I felt a lot of pressure from the growing weight of the national team, which was only fun. I wanted to tell you that the mental breakdown was difficult, such as the pressure I felt on the field, the responsibility to do well all the time, and the disappointment when I lost a point.”
“I felt a lot of pressure because I thought playing for the national team was a position where I should be responsible that much, and I felt honored. However, I have never been to the field in a relaxed manner while playing for the national team,” Kim added.
Realizing a heavy responsibility as a central defender of the national team, Kim Min-jae asked Park Ji-sung, the best legend of the Korean national team, for advice.
Kim Min-jae, who met with reporters after the ceremony on the 2nd, said, “There were so many things I wanted to ask Park Ji-sung,” adding that he had many answers he wanted to hear from the senior member of the national team.
“I was asked how to increase the pressure and how to do well in international competitions. I think I have found some answers,” Kim said with a pale smile.
What kind of advice did Park give to Kim Min-jae? “I was touched by his saying, ‘If you don’t try to do well and focus on your own play, you will be able to show good performance,’ and I think that’s the answer,” Kim said.
Meanwhile, Kim Min-jae, who became the “2023 Player of the Year” in a step up, left for Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with his teammates at Incheon International Airport on the night of the 2nd.
The team will arrive in Dubai on Thursday local time and head to Abu Dhabi. The main squad will arrive at their lodging facility on Thursday morning, while overseas players including Son Heung-min, excluding Lee Kang-in, will join the Abu Dhabi headquarters on Tuesday morning. They will attend their first training session in the afternoon.
Lee Kang-in is scheduled to join the team on the 4th after playing his team’s game, and the national team will start its final warm-up match against Iraq on the 6th. The national team, which is trying to win its first championship since 1960, will start competing in Group E with Jordan, Bahrain and Malaysia.
BY: 토토사이트