Kim Min-jae (28, Bayern Munich), who was shaken by excessive pressure, asked for advice from Korean soccer legend Park Ji-sung (43).
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. 헤라카지노
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.”