Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur edged out Cristiano Ronaldo of Al-Nassr to win the 2023 Best Footballer in Asia trophy.
Son Heung-min wins Best Footballer in Asia title
For the seventh year running, Spurs’ Son has won this accolade. In the end, the 31-year-old received 22.9% of the vote, narrowly defeating Ronaldo (17.06%) and Kim Min-Jae (19.54%), both of whom are South Korean internationals playing for Bayern Munich. Son has won this illustrious award nine times throughout his career.
Son Heung-min wins Best Footballer in Asia title
Both in South Korea and at Tottenham, where he currently serves as captain, Son is a beloved figure among fans. Despite the significance of this honor, the forward will be eager to win a trophy in 2024, either with Spurs or his nation.
Son Heung-min wins Best Footballer in Asia title
Ronaldo topped all players in 2023 in goals scored, yet he was not named the award’s winner. The Portuguese international, who is 38 years old, scored 53 goals last season, proving that he is still very much a player despite being in his latter years.
Son Heung-min wins Best Footballer in Asia title
Now what?On Monday, Son played a key role in South Korea’s 3-1 Asian Cup opener victory over Bahrain. After Saturday’s match against Jordan, the Spurs star will play in their final group stage match on January 25th against Malaysia. With a Reds tournament victory, he might miss the Spurs’ games until the middle of February.
Tottenham and South Korea captain Son Heung-min fends off Cristiano Ronaldo to win a SEVENTH successive Best Footballer in Asia award
After winning a seventh straight title despite a significantly improved field of opponents, Son Heung-min was once again named the top Asian player of the last year.
After a stellar year scoring 27 goals for both his club and nation, the captain of South Korea and Tottenham has been named the Best Footballer in Asia for 2023.
Son is presently playing for South Korea at the Asia Cup. His team overcame Bahrain 3-1 in their first match, and they will face Jordan and Malaysia in their next matches.Nevertheless, the attacker from Tottenham has gotten off to a fantastic start in 2024 by winning the individual award, even though Cristiano Ronaldo made a phenomenal transfer to the Saudi Pro League.
Those who play for teams governed by the AFC or who represent nations that are members of the AFC are eligible to win the Best Footballer in Asia award.Ronaldo, Sadio Mane, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Karim Benzema, and N’Golo Kante were all candidates for the gong because they had recently joined the Saudi Pro League.
‘Our captain,’ Tottenham announced Son’s latest category triumph on X, formerly Twitter.”I am writing to congratulate Son Hung-min on his seventh consecutive year as Best Footballer in Asia.”
Although it would be surprising for a player who has just been in the AFC for around five months to win the honor, Ronaldo is likely to give Son a tough competition.
Despite being the five-time recipient of football’s most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or, the Portuguese icon came nowhere near beating Son.
The South Korean captain received 22.9% of the vote, securing his eighth consecutive award.
Son has now won it nine times, with further victories in 2014 and 2015. The only other players to win it other than Son Heung-min are Shinji Okazaki (2016) and Japan icon Keisuke Honda (2013).
Kim Min-jae, an international teammate, also made it to the podium with an astounding 19.54%.
Kim had a fantastic 2023, during which he was instrumental in Napoli winning the Serie A for the first time in 33 years. In the summer of that year, he signed a five-year agreement with Bayern Munich for £43 million.
After that, Ronaldo finished third with 17.06% of the vote, which was good enough for podium position, but the renowned forward only won a bronze medal.
Although Al-Nassr may face lower-quality competition than Son and Kim, the former Manchester United forward has continued his superb form.
In 18 games for Saudi Arabia, Ronaldo has scored 20 goals and assisted on nine more.