Son Heung-Min nominated for 2019 AFC International Player of the Year

Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-Min has already been honored this winter by being included on the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or, the first Asian footballer to be nominated in 12 years. Now, he’s a finalist for another prize. Today the AFC released the nominees for the AFC Asian International Player of the Year, and to nobody’s surprise, Sonny is one of the three finalists there too.

The AFC actually splits its end of the year awards into two — one for Asian players in AFC domestic leagues, and one for Asian footballers playing abroad. This is the latter of the two. Sonny’s no stranger to this award — he won the award in 2015 and 2017, and has been nominated five out of the past six seasons. Since he clearly can only win the award on odd-numbered years (Frankfurt’s Makoto Hasebe, also nominated this year, won it in 2018) he’s a shoo-in this time.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony held in Hong Kong on December 2.