Son Heung-min became Asia's best international player of the year, Ellie Carpenter won the award in the women's category.

New Delhi, 30 October (Hindustan Reporter). Tottenham and South Korea forward Son Heung-min was named Asia's International Player of the Year for the fourth time at the Asian Football Confederation's annual awards ceremony in Seoul on Tuesday.

Son, who captains both Tottenham and South Korea, won the award in 2015, 2017 and 2019, taking the trophy from Bayern Munich compatriot Kim Min-jae. The 32-year-old is the most successful Asian player in the Premier League, having scored 123 goals and assisted 64 since arriving at Tottenham nine years ago. He also won the Golden Boot for the 2021–22 season, becoming the first player from Asia to do so.

However, Son has not yet won a major title with South Korea or the Spurs senior team.

He reached the finals of the AFC Asian Cup 2015 with the Taeguk Warriors and the finals of the UEFA Champions League (2018–19) and League Cup (2020–21) with Tottenham, but lost all of them.

However, the key to his success was winning the gold medal with the South Korean under-23 team at the 2018 Asian Games, in which he assisted both goals in a 2–1 win over Japan in the final.

Australia's Ellie Carpenter, who plays for French club Lyon, became the first winner of the women's international award.

Carpenter has represented Australia at three Olympic Games and the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023, in which the team qualified for the semi-finals for the first time.

Since transferring to Lyon in 2020, the full-back has won six major trophies with the French side, including two top division titles and multiple UEFA Women's Champions League trophies.

Go Oiwa won the Coach of the Year title after leading Japan to the quarter-finals of the Under-23 Asian Cup and the Olympic Games, while South Korea Under-20 head coach Park Yoon-jeong won the women's title.