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Wu Lei wins the Chinese Golden Ball
Wu Lei has been awarded the Chinese Golden Ball as the Asian country’s best player in 2019, at an awards ceremony organized by Titan Media Group in Peking. It’s the second year in a row that the “blanquiazul” striker has won this prize.
The striker signed for RCD Espanyol de Barcelona in January of last year. In 2019, he made 43 appearances and scored 8 goals in all competitions. In LaLiga, he has made 31 appearances and scored 4 goals, in the Europa League, 11 appearances and 2 goals, whilst in the Copa del Rey he has made one appearance, scoring two goals. In Espanyol’s game against CSKA Moscow, Wu Lei scored his first goal in the Europa League (not counting qualifying rounds), becoming the first Chinese player to score in European competition. With Wu Lei, RCD Espanyol de Barcelona have gained a great deal of visibility in China, and the club’s influence in the Asian country is constantly growing. Wu Lei scored 5 goals in 8 games for the national team in 2019.
The panel that awards the prize is composed of journalists from more than 100 Chinese media outlets and some others from international outlets, such as Marca, AFP, Reuters, Sky Sports, France Football, Kicker, Sportmagazin, among others. In the voting, Wu Lei received 52 votes as first choice and a total of 450 points. After the “blanquiazul” striker, Hao Jun Min and Elkeson (who became a Chinese national last year) finished in second and third place respectively.