Jeonbuk Hong Jeong-ho. Provided by the Korea Professional Football FederationWho will be the best K-League 1 player in 2021?
The Korea Professional Football Federation held the 2021 K League 1 Individual Award Nomination Committee on November 29 and selected four MVP candidates. A candidate selection committee was formed with experts such as federation technical committee members, reporters, and commentators, and based on the list of candidates for each division submitted by each club, the selection process was completed in consideration of records and performances.
There are four MVP nominations given to the best player. Se Jin-ya (Daegu FC), Lee Dong-jun (Ulsan Hyundai), Ju Min-gyu (Jeju United), and Hong Jeong-ho (Jeonbuk Hyundai).
If you look at his personal records, he is definitely Jumin-gyu. Jumin-gyu recorded 22 goals and 1 assist in 33 games, and has reserved the top scorer title. Lee Dong-jun has 11 goals (6th place) and 4 assists in 31 games, while Se Jin-ya has 9 goals (10th place) and 7 assists (5th place) in 31 games. Hong Jung-ho played 35 games as a defender and led Jeonbuk’s minimum run (37 points).
Looking back at the past MVP winners, we looked at the competitiveness of each candidate.
Jeju Joo-gyu. Provided by the Korea Professional Football Federation
◇Scoring champion Jumin-gyu
Soccer is a sport in which goals are played. If you don’t score a goal, you can draw, but if you don’t score, you can’t win. As a result, the value of strikers is highly valued.
Jumin-gyu was the top scorer in 33 matches with 22 goals. With the final match remaining, Lars (Suwon FC, 18 goals) was 4 goals ahead of 2nd place. He is the first native scorer in five years since Jeong Jo-guk (then Gwangju FC) in 2016. Among the MVP candidates, the team performance is the worst, but the individual record is overwhelming.
However, there are not many cases where the top scorer leads to the MVP.
From 1983 to 1998, when it was the first year, all the winning teams were MVPs. Piafong (Lucky Goldstar) in 1985 and Ki-geun Lee (Pohang Steel) in 1988 did not receive the MVP even though they won the championship and the top scorer at the same time. Kim Do-hoon (Seongnam Ilhwa) was the first MVP to become the top scorer in 2003. Kim Do-hoon swept the championship, top scorer, and MVP.
In 2016, Jeong Jo-guk was the first player to win the MVP title with only the top scorer without winning a championship. The second is Malkeng (Gyeongnam FC) in 2018. This means that Jumin-gyu is challenging the third record.
Ulsan Lee Dong-jun. Provided by the Korea Professional Football Federation
◇ Winner Hong Jeong-ho or Lee Dong-jun
The ultimate goal of sports is to win. So, regardless of the event, the winning team often has the MVP.
In the case of the K-League, there are only six cases where the winning team did not have an MVP.
Hong Jeong-ho is the center of the Jeonbuk defense line. Appeared in 35 of 37 matches. There are only four defenders MVPs in the past, but when the season ends with Jeonbuk’s victory, the MVP award is most likely. Previously, Park Kyung-hoon (Pohang Steel) in 1988, Jung Yong-hwan (Daewoo Royals) in 1991, Hong Myung-bo (Pohang Steel) in 1992, and Kim Joo-seong (Busan Daewoo) in 1997 were awarded the MVP as a defender.
Lee Dong-jun is a key resource in the Ulsan attack. Since the first year of transfer, he has been nominated for the MVP by scoring the most points (11 goals and 4 assists) in the team. If Ulsan succeeds in winning the championship, MVP is not an impossible title. In particular, a position that reveals figures is advantageous as the midfielder won 16 times and the striker won 17 times.
Daegu Sejingya. Provided by the Korea Professional Football Federation
Compared to the three who can claim the title of top scorer or championship, Sejinya is in a somewhat disadvantageous situation.
Sejinya has scored 9 goals and provided 7 assists. Compared to 15 goals and 10 assists in 2019 and 18 goals and 4 assists in 2020, it is a slightly disappointing record. Although he is an ace who led Daegu to the Final A for two years in a row, it is a little short of a record to win the MVP in a situation that is not the winning team.
Ahn Jung-hwan (Busan Daewoo) in 1999, Eun-joong Kim (Jeju United) in 2010, Shin-wook Kim (Ulsan Hyundai) in 2013, and Bo-kyung Kim (Ulsan Hyundai) in 2019 are the only cases where they won the MVP without a championship or the top scorer title. All of them are MVPs from the runner-up teams.
The nominations for the Young Player Award and the Best Director Award were also announced.
Young-Jun Ko (Pohang Steelers), Young-Woo Seol (Ulsan Hyundai), Won-Sang Eom (Gwangju FC), Sang-Bin Jeong (Samsung Suwon), Do-Kyun Kim (Suwon FC), Sang-Sik Kim (Hyundai Jeonbuk), Byeong-Geun Lee (Daegu FC) for the Young Player Award nominees ), and director Hong Myung-bo (Ulsan Hyundai).
The winners will be selected by votes from 12 clubs coaches (30%), captains (30%) and media (40%).
