Korea's goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-Woo celebrates during a penalty shootout at the end of Asian Cup Round of 16 soccer match between Saudi Arabia and Korea, at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar, Jan. 30. AP-Yonhap
A veteran goalkeeper for the champions, a teen sensation for an up-and-coming club and the leading playmaking threat will be up for the highest individual honor in the top Korean football league this season.
The Korea Professional Football League (K League) unveiled candidates for major awards for the 2024 K League 1 campaign Wednesday.
The last four MVP winners have come from the league champions, and Ulsan HD FC goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo will try to make it five in a row.
Jo backstopped Ulsan to their third consecutive K League 1 title this season. With one match left this season, Jo has played in all 37 matches so far and has conceded just 38 goals, while recording 14 clean sheets. Ulsan are tied with Gimcheon Sangmu FC for the fewest goals allowed this season.
Jo will try to become only the second goalkeeper to win the MVP award in the K League, joining Lee Woon-jae of Suwon Samsung Bluewings in 2008.
Tottenham Hotspur's new Korean player Yang Min-hyeok / Captured from Tottenham Hotspur's official website
Jo will be up against Yang Min-hyeok, the 18-year-old phenom for Gangwon FC. Still a high school student, Yang started the season on a semi-pro contract, but it was converted into a full contract in June, after becoming the youngest player to score in K League history at 17. He leads all rookies with 11 goals and six assists.
At the end of July, Tottenham Hotspur announced their signing of Yang to a deal that runs until 2030. Yang, the youngest Korean player to sign for a Premier League side, will join Spurs in January 2025.
Yang is also nominated for the Young Player of the Year award, the K League's equivalent of the Rookie of the Year award. No player has won both the MVP and the top rookie prize in the same season.
Suwon FC's Brazilian forward Anderson Oliveira, simply known as Anderson, is also nominated for the MVP award. Through 37 matches, Anderson leads the K League 1 with 13 assists and 20 goal involvements. He is also the only player to have won Player of the Month awards twice this season. Four foreign players, including three Brazilians, have won the K League 1 MVP award so far.
Head coaches for the top three clubs — Kim Pan-gon of Ulsan, Chung Jung-yong of Gimcheon and Yoon Jong-hwan of Gangwon — have been nominated for the Coach of the Year award. That prize has gone to the bench boss for the championship team or the runner-up team in every season except in 2020, when Kim Gi-dong of third-place Pohang Steelers was the winner.
Of this year's candidates, Kim was a midseason replacement for Hong Myung-bo at Ulsan after the latter left for the Korean men's national team job in July. On Kim's watch, Ulsan had eight wins, three draws and one loss to climb from fourth place to the very top.
All winners will be determined by votes from media (40 percent), head coaches (30 percent) and team captains (30 percent). They will be announced at the annual awards ceremony Nov. 29. (Yonhap)