Seo Jae-min thanked him for winning the Young Player Award and did not forget to strengthen his commitment to the promotion playoff against Jeonbuk Hyundai.
The Korea Professional Football Association hosted the “Hana Bank K League 2024 Grand Prize Ceremony” at the Grand Hotel in Hongeun-dong, Seoul on Tuesday. Following the Special Award and the Club Award, the K League 2 Awards took place. The K League 1 Awards were also held, and the winners of major individual awards went to a press conference afterward.
The young player of the K League 2 was Seo Jae-min. Seo said, “Being a central midfielder born in 2003, Seo Jae-min grew up with FC Seoul and even entered the professional league, but failed to make his debut. After moving to Seoul E-Land, I played as a mainstay. He played in 29 matches, scoring two goals and one assist. He also ranked first in the number of passes success among U-22 players (1,594 times, 91.9 percent), ranks first in the number of passes successfully within his team, ranks first in the duration of play among U-22 field players, and ranks first in the duration of play, as well as twice in the round of best-leven.
Seo Jae-min is a U-22 player, but he has been utilized as a key player under the coach Kim Do-kyun. After his debut in April, Kim caught the eye of coach Kim Do-kyun and played the entire time as a key midfielder. Seo Jae-min, who contributed to Seoul E-Land’s advance to the playoffs as the third place, beat Yoon Jae-seok (Jeonnam) and Chae Hyun-woo (Anyang) in the competition.
The margin was very narrow. Seo received 34.43 points in terms of coach, captain, and media votes, while Yoon scored 33.94 points and Chae Hyun-woo 31.63. He narrowly won the prize. The gap between Seo and Yoon was 0.49.
At the press conference, Seo Jae-min said, “I heard there wasn’t much difference, but it’s good to receive an award that a rookie can win. I want to say thank you to coach Kim Do-kyun. It’s not because I did well. The coach gave me a chance and reached out to me, who didn’t have a team, to receive it. I want to say thank you so much.”
In fact, Seo Jae-min was not originally nominated. He was excluded from the candidate list due to a mistake in the Korean Professional Football League, but he was corrected and competed for the prize. Seo Jae-min recalled, “I thought I would be nominated, but I was surprised that I didn’t have one. Rather than being disappointed, I accepted it. I thought the team’s performance was important. Later, an article came out and my team manager told me, “It was good to correct the wrong thing.” 메이저사이트
When asked why he started as the main player, he said, “The older guys had a lot of injuries in the beginning. I tried to learn from them. I started when I played with FC Seoul at the Korea Cup. Playing with Seoul helped me psychologically. As they were players who had trained for the past two years, I was less nervous because I had a lot of friends. It was a factor that allowed me to play in the game. I think the coach liked the spirit of the young player.”
Seoul E-Land will now play in the promotion playoff with Jeonbuk Hyundai. Seo Jae-min said, “There was an award ceremony in the week when we were preparing for the promotion playoff. I thought about the promotion playoff more than the award ceremony. I was expecting that I would meet Jeonbuk. I don’t think it will be inferior to Jeonbuk. As I think I am preparing well, I think it will be an interesting game that does not lean towards one side. Personally, I am so excited.”