KFA Year End Awards (Fan Voted)

So the Tavern year end awards will be announced in few days, but the KFA has also announced their fan voted year end awards. Fans were asked to vote in three categories: best match of the year, best goal of the year, and best player of the year.

Best Match of the Year: South Korea vs Switzerland

With 1,197 votes, the Korea v Switzerland match easily topped the list more than doubling the second place match. My guess is that beating a highly ranked European team made people think this was a great match for Korea. Second place went to the final K League Classic match between Ulsan Hyundai and Pohang Steelers (523 votes) and third place went to the South Korea vs Qatar match back in March (463 votes).

Best Goal of the Year: Ha Dae-Sung (FC Seoul vs Esteghlal, AFC Champions League Semifinal 2nd leg)

Similarly, Ha Dae-Sung’s goal (about 27 seconds in the video below) in the second leg of the AFC Champions League match against Iranian side Esteghlal won by a large margin. 1,264 votes earned the goal first place, with Son Heung-Min’s goal against Mali coming second (600 votes). Third place went to Jung Hyun-Chul’s goal for the U-20 team against Iraq (393 votes). For some reason the KFA also mentioned the 4th, 5th, and 6th place vote getters. 4th place went to Ryu Seung-Woo, 5th place to Ji So-Yeon (WKNT), and 6th went to Kim Na-Rae (WKNT). Presumably Ryu’s goal was the screamer against Portugal, and admittedly I have no clue which goals were for the two ladies.

Best Player of the Season: Lee Chung-Yong (Bolton Wanderers)

In a slightly surprising result, Lee Chung-Yong was voted as best player of 2013. Lee received 1,369 votes. This was the closest of the three votes, but still it wasn’t that close with Son Heung-Min coming in second place (810 votes). Third place went to Ulsan Hyundai striker Kim Shin-Wook (302) votes.