Chung Mong-joon to receive highest individual award in Asian soccer

Former FIFA Vice President Chung Mong-joon will receive the highest individual honor in Asian football for his contribution to the sport in the region, officials said Tuesday.

The Asian Football Confederation announced that it will confer the AFC Diamond of Asia award on Chung, a long-time South Korean football administrator, legislator and industrialist.

South Korea and Japan co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup as the first Asian hosts of the sport’s grandest event, with Chung acting as an instrumental figure as the top South Korean football official.

“Dr. Chung played a key role in bringing the coveted FIFA World Cup to Asia for the first time in 2002 and was instrumental in showing Asian football the way to development and growth,” said AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa in a statement. “He also served in many FIFA and AFC standing committees and was deservingly appointed honorary vice-president of FIFA in 2011. His philanthropic activities towards helping football communities devastated by disasters in the continent are also well-known.”

The 61-year-old will be the ninth recipient of the AFC Diamond of Asia award, which was first given out in 2005, according to the AFC.

Chung was first elected the head of the Korea Football Association in 1993 and was re-elected four times, before becoming the honorary president in 2009. He became the FIFA vice president in 1994 and was re-elected four times.

According to the AFC, in 2010 Chung donated $400,000 to help rebuild football infrastructure in Pakistan following devastating floods, and gave $200,000 to the Indonesian Football Association to help the country’s relief efforts following a massive earthquake and tsunami.

The AFC said the award will be presented during its annual award ceremony in Kuala Lumpur in November. (Yonhap News)