Msakni wins QFA Best Player Award, Younes Ali Best Coach

Al Arabi’s Yousef Msakni won the Best Player Award, while Younes Ali was adjudged Best Coach at the Qatar Football Association (QFA) Awards ceremony, which was held at the Qatar National Convention Centre on Saturday.
Tunisia’s Msakni polled most votes after strong competition from Al Sadd and Qatar national team star Akram Afif and Al Duhail striker Michael Olunga. “It is a great honour for me to win this award but it wasn’t possible without the help of my teammates and I am thankful to them for their support,” Msakni said.
Younes Ali, who led Arabi to first HH The Amir Cup triumph in 30 years on Friday, and second-place finish in the QNB Stars League, paid tribute to his team. “I am picking this award on behalf of my team as I have not achieved this alone. My entire team deserves the credit for this award,” said Younes. “Al Duhail won the QSL title deservingly and we are proud to win the prestigious Amir Cup. I hope the next season will be better for Al Arabi. We will try to come back stronger,” he added.
Arabi outwitted Al Duhail’s Argentinian coach Hernan Crespo and Al Wakrah’s Spanish coach Marquez Lopez for the award.
Duhail’s Michael Olunga took home the Mansour Muftah Award for being the top Scorer in the QNB Stars League. The Kenyan star striker scored 22 goals in the season. The Best Under-23 player award went to Al Rayyan’s Osama al-Tairi, who received the highest percentage of votes ahead of Jassim Jaber of Al Arabi and Khaled Mohamed Saleh of Al Duhail.
The Medal of Achievement was launched by the Board of Trustees of QFA Awards yesterday, with its first recipients being Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Mohannadi and engineer Helal bin Jeham bin Abdulaziz al-Kuwari, who passed away recently.
The award is given to personalities who make distinguished contributions during their lifetime to the development of football at the sports and administrative levels.
Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Mohannadi was a former vice-president of the Qatar and Asian Football Associations, a member of the FIFA Council and was one of the distinguished Qatari sports administrators. He was part of the development and success of football, at the local and Asian levels.
Engineer Helal bin Jeham bin Abdulaziz al-Kuwari was a former president of Aspire Zone Foundation, who had a creditable record having served the country in various platforms and projects, such as stadiums and facilities for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
The Football for All Award – given to organisations, groups or individuals making a significant contribution to promote the culture football in society – was won by Al Kass Ramadan Tournament.
Meanwhile, the Best Referee Award went to Abdulhadi al-Asmar al-Ruwaili. Jomaa Mohamed El Borshid (Best First Assistant Referee), Abdul Majid Hussein al-Kerbi (Best Second Assistant Referee) and Abdulrahman Ibrahim al-Jassim (Video Assistant Referee) also were honoured.
The award ceremony was attended by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani, President of QFA and Qatar Stars League.