The best candidates for the FIFA World Cup 2023 have been revealed. Not a single Napoli player, including Kim Min-jae, made the cut.
FIFA unveiled the nominees for the 2023 FIFA FIFPro World Best on its official website on March 3 (KST). Most of the so-called ‘world-class’ players were named on the list released by FIFA.
The absence of Kim Min-jae’s name is surprising. He played his best football for Napoli and Bayern Munich in 2023. After excelling at Turkkiye Fenerbahçe, Kim headed to Serie A’s Napoli ahead of the 2022-23 season, where he was so dominant that it was hard to believe it was his first ‘big league’ season, winning Serie A’s best defender award and playing a key role in the team’s first league title in 33 years. He then moved to “mega club” Bayern Munich ahead of this season.
His performances continued in Munich. Although he has struggled with fitness due to Munich’s thin central defense squad, he has made a name for himself at one of the world’s top clubs and is now a regular starter.
His performances for Napoli earned him a Ballon d’Or nomination. Not only was he nominated, but he was also ranked as the 22nd best center back in the world, ahead of Javier Diaz and Yosuco Gvardiol. In addition to the aforementioned central defenders, other strikers also proved their worth, ranking higher than some of last season’s best performers, such as Bukayo Sakha (Arsenal), Martin Ødegaard, and Kolo Moani (Paris Saint-Germain).
Unsurprisingly, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) International Player of the Year award also went to Kim Min-jae. The AFC held the 2022 AFC Awards on October 31 in Doha, Qatar. Kim was honored with the AFC International Player of the Year award, which is given to the player who has performed the best overseas. “Kim capped off an extraordinary season by leading SSC Napoli to their first Italian Serie A title since 1990,” the AFC said. His stock skyrocketed in 2021 when he joined Turkkiye Fenerbahçe from Beijing Guoan in the Chinese Super League,” highlighting his performance.
Diaz, Virgil van Dijk, Édouard Militant, Antonio Rudiger, John Stones, and Kyle Walker were nominated 카지노 instead of Kim. While the majority of the nominees had their best performances over the past year, it’s clear that Kim had a strong case for the honor.
Also missing from the list were Victor Osimhen and Hvitsa Kvarachelia, both of whom had tremendous performances last season and helped Napoli win the Scudetto. While the FIFA World’s Best is more of a “popularity contest” than anything else, it’s a tough list to convince.