AFC Asian Cup 2019: Vietnam head coach Park Hang-seo named among 2018 ‘Asians of the Year’

Park Hang-seo, who oversaw Vietnam’s AFF Suzuki Cup triumph, has been voted as one of the ‘Asians of the Year’ for the year 2018.

Coach Park Hang-seo

Hang-seo, 59, has been in charge of the Vietnam senior and U-23 national teams since September of 2017 and has largely been credited with the success that the teams have encountered since.

The U-23 team reached the finals of the AFC U-23 Championship and made it to the semi-finals in the 2018 Asian Games under the South Korean’s tutelage and the senior team ran out comfortable winners in the recently concluded AFF Suzuki Cup, beating out Malaysia 3-2 on aggregate in the finals.

Hang-seo, who has come under praise for his management and fluid playing style, received a further affirmation of his work when he was voted as one of the ‘Asians of the Year’ in the year 2018 by the Asia Journalist Association (AJA).

Sharing this honour with Hang-seo were President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the late former Chairman of LG Koo Bon-moo and Egyptian thoracic surgeon Magdi Habib Yacoub.

The president of AJA, Ashraf Dali, had this to say about the award; “those people were selected after final deliberation by the AJA leaders and each country’s representatives’ evaluation. I send my greatest respect to those selected.”

Hang-seo will now lead Vietnam into the AFC Asian Cup 2019, where they come up against Iran, Iraq and Yemen in group D.

VNF