Vietnam’s South Korean football coach Park Hang-seo has been voted one of the four Asians of the Year by the Asia Journalist Association.
He was honored in the society and culture category for his contribution to Vietnamese football this year.
Egyptian thoracic surgeon Magdi Habib Yacoub was also chosen in the society and culture category, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in the politics category and LG Group’s late former chairman Koo Bon-moo in the economy category.
“Those people were selected after final deliberation by the AJA leaders and each country’s representatives’ evaluation,” Ashraf Dali, president of the AJA, said. “I send my greatest respect to those selected.”
Park was named among South Korea’s 12 “Persons of the Year” by the Journalists Association of Korea earlier this month for his contributions to Vietnamese football and for raising South Korea’s profile in Vietnam.
Park, 59, became the head coach of the Vietnamese senior and U23 football teams in November last year and just two months later helped the latter to the runner-up spot at the AFC U23 Championship for the first time ever.
In August this year he led Vietnam to the semi-finals of the Asian Games for the first time in history. The team finished fourth.
His latest success came earlier this month when the national team won the AFF Championship by beating Malaysia 3-2 in the two-legged finals. It was the country’s second AFF victory after the first in 2008.
Park is preparing the team for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup next month, where they face Iran, Iraq and Yemen in the group stage.
Source: Vnexpress