Al Sadd forward Afif won the award for the 2nd time after leading Qatar to the AFC Asian Cup title in the house in 2023.
Qatar’s Akram Afif has actually been called the Asian Football Confederation’s Player of the Year for a 2nd time, together with Kiko Seike from Japan, who protected the ladies’s title at the local body’s yearly awards event in Seoul.
Afif, who had actually formerly won the award in 2019, existed with the prize following his crucial efficiencies in Qatar’s effective defence of their Asian Cup title on home soil previously in the year.
“I’m worried like I’m about to take a charge in the last,” Afif stated as he accepted the award on Monday.
“I thank my spouse and all the nationwide staff member, coaches, administrators and medical group.
“I will attempt once again to win this award for a 3rd time.”
In February, the 27-year-old Al Sadd forward ended up being the very first gamer to score a hat-trick in the Asian Cup last and netted 8 times throughout the competition to protect the award ahead of Jordan’s Yazan Al-Naimat and South Korean Seol Young-woo.
Afif is just the 3rd gamer to win the prize numerous times, following Japan’s Hidetoshi Nakata, who won in 1997 and 1998, and Server Djeparov of Uzbekistan, who won in 2008 and 2011.
Seike prospers Australia’s Sam Kerr to win the ladies’s award ahead of Australia’s Cortnee Vine and Kim Hye-ri of South Korea and is the 4th Japanese gamer to declare the title after Homare Sawa, Saki Kumagai and three-time winner Aya Miyama.
The striker’s kind was crucial to Urawa Red Diamonds’ title win in the Asian Women’s Club Championship in 2023. She assisted her club protect a 2nd successive Japanese domestic league title before signing for Brighton & & Hove Albion in July.
“I’m really pleased to get this distinguished award”, Seike stated by means of video message.
Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min was called the AFC Men’s International Player of the Year. Australian Ellie Carpenter won the ladies’s award, identifying gamers who have actually made the most significant effect on the worldwide phase beyond Asian competitors.
Go Oiwa won Coach of the Year after leading Japan to the Under-23 Asian Cup and the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games, with Park Young-jeon, head coach of South Korea’s Under-20s, winning the ladies’s title.
Akram Afif engraves his name in the pantheon of Asian football legends when again! #AFCAwards 2023 pic.twitter.com/MKfzRHwmpq
— AFC (@theafcdotcom) October 29, 2024