▲ This photo, provided by the Korea Professional Football League on April 4, 2023, shows Ulsan Hyundai FC forward Joo Min-kyu, the K League 1 Player of the Month for the February-March period. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

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Ulsan striker Joo Min-kyu voted 1st winner of K League's top monthly award in 2023

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, April 4 (Yonhap) -- Ulsan Hyundai FC striker Joo Min-kyu was named the first winner of the Player of the Month award in the 2023 K League 1 season Tuesday.

The league announced that Joo won the vote for the top player award for the February-March period. The new season kicked off on Feb. 25, and the league considered the first four matches of the campaign through the end of March.

Joo scored two goals and had an assist in those four matches, helping Ulsan, the defending champions, win all of them.

The winner was chosen based on votes by the K League's technical study group (60 percent), fans (25 percent) and players of the "FIFA Online 4" video game by Electronic Arts, the league's official video game partner.

Joo topped three other candidates in fan voting with 12.15 percent of support, while Gwangju FC forward Jasir Asani topped both the technical study group voting and FIFA Online 4 voting.

When those totals were converted into final voting points, Joo came out on top at 36.46 percentage points, just 0.39 percent point ahead of Asani.

This is Joo's first career Player of the Month award.

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