This photo provided by the Korea Football Association on Sept. 12, 2024, shows the Asian Football Confederation Annual Awards ceremony taking place in Doha on Oct. 31, 2023. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will host the top annual Asian football awards ceremony for the first time in October, the sport’s national governing body said Thursday.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) said the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Annual Awards will take place at Grand Peace Hall on the Seoul campus of Kyung Hee University on Oct. 29. The ceremony will recognize the best in Asian football from 2023. It will be the 28th edition of the event and the KFA said about 600 participants are expected.
Then from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, Conrad Seoul Hotel in Yeouido, western Seoul, will host the AFC Conference, bringing together about 200 senior football executives from 47 AFC member states and regional associations.
The AFC announced South Korea as the host of the two events during its executive committee meeting in December last year. The awards ceremony and the conference had been held separately in the past but will now be staged consecutively in the same city.
Kuala Lumpur, home of the AFC headquarters, hosted the early editions of the awards ceremony, but began taking the show around the continent. The Philippines, India, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Oman, Hong Kong and Qatar have hosted recent awards ceremonies.
The official name of the upcoming ceremony will be “AFC Annual Awards Seoul 2023″ because it will celebrate winners based on performances from the second half of last year to the first half of this year.
Awards categories include the Men’s and Women’s Player of the Year, Asian International Player of the Year, and the Men’s and Women’s Coach of the Year.
Last year, Kim Min-jae, South Korean defender for Bayern Munich, was named the Asian International Player of the Year.
The KFA said hosting the two events will be an opportunity to raise the international profile of South Korean football and expand the country’s sports diplomacy.
(Yonhap)
