Qatari Afif and Jordanian Al-Naimat compete for the Best Player in Asia award sports
Today, Tuesday, the Asian Football Confederation announced the lists of candidates to win the 2023 annual awards, less than a month before the ceremony.
Asia's best stars, led by the winners of the AFC Player of the Year and AFC Women's Player awards, will be crowned on October 29, when the 28th annual AFC Awards are held at the Grand Peace Palace at Kyung Hee University in South Korea.
A group of brilliant stars are competing to win the Best Player in Asia award, including:
- Jordanian Yazan Al-Naimat
- South Korean Seol Young-woo
- Qatari Akram Afif.
Al-Naimat, one of the key players behind Jordan's unforgettable campaign in the 2023 Asian Cup Qatar, contributed by scoring 4 goals and assisting 2 goals, to help his country reach the final of the tournament for the first time in its history.
The striker led the attack with confidence, and 3 of his goals came in the qualifying rounds (the round of 16 and the semi-finals, in addition to his country’s goal in the final).
Al-Naimat also helped Jordan top its group in the second round of the Asian qualifiers for the World Cup, where he scored 3 goals to keep Jordan on its path towards its first appearance in the World Cup.
For his part, Afif made great performances in the 2023 Asian Cup, where the defending champion, Qatar, retained its title on home soil in a distinctive way.
He became the first player to score a hat-trick in the final, finishing the tournament with 8 goals and 3 assists, winning the Best Player and Top Scorer awards.
Afif also continued to shine with Al Sadd, leading the team to win a record 17th Qatari League title, after scoring 26 goals and providing 11 assists during 22 matches, and he is looking forward to winning this award for the second time after 2019.
Below is a list of the most prominent awards and their nominees:
The best player in Asia
- Yazan Al-Naimat (Al-Ahly/Al-Arabi, Jordan)
- Seol Young-woo (Ulsan/Crvena Zvezda, South Korea)
- Akram Afif (Al Sadd, Qatar)
The best player in Asia
- Courtney Fine (Sydney/NC Courage, Australia)
- Keiko Seki (Urawa Red Diamonds/Brighton & Hove Albion, Japan)
- Kim Hee-ri (Hyundai Steel Red Angels, South Korea)
Best professional player outside the continent (men)
- Mehdi Taremi (Porto/Inter Milan, Iran)
- Musa Al-Taamari (Montpellier, Jordan)
- Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur, South Korea)
Best Coach in Asia (Men)
- Graham Arnold (Australia)
- Joe Oiwa (Japan U23)
- Hwang Soon-Hong (South Korea U-23 national team)
Best Young Player (Men)
- Gaku Nawata (Kamimura Gakuin High School, Japan)
- Bae Jun-ho (Daejeon Hana Citizen/Stoke City, South Korea)
- Abbasbek Fayzulayev (CSKA Moscow, Uzbekistan)