Qatar’s Afif heads Asian Player of the Year award shortlist

Qatar’s Asian Cup winning forward Akram Afif has been nominated for a second Asian Player of the Year award, joining Jordan’s Yazan al-Naimat and Seol Young-woo of South Korea on the Asian Football Confederation’s three-man shortlist.
Australia’s Cortnee Vine as well as Kiko Seike from Japan and South Korea’s Kim Hye-ri have been nominated for the women’s title, with the winners of both awards to be announced in Seoul on October 29.
Afif previously won in 2019 and is favourite to reclaim the trophy after leading his nation to a second consecutive continental title in February, when hosts Qatar defeated Jordan in the Asian Cup final. The mercurial forward became the first player to ever score a hat-trick in a final, finishing with eight goals and three assists to win the Most Valuable Player and Top Scorer accolades. Unstoppable at the club level as well, Afif spearheaded Al Sadd SC’s successful charge to a record 17th Qatar Stars League title with 26 goals and 11 assists from 22 matches, and will aim to win this award for the second time after 2019.
Recently departed Australia coach Graham Arnold has been nominated for the men’s coach of the year award alongside Go Oiwa, who led Japan to the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games, and South Korea’s Asian Games gold medal winner Hwang Sun-hong. Arnold quit the Socceroos role last month after a disappointing start to the third phase of Asia’s World Cup qualifiers and has since been replaced by Tony Popovic. Japan’s Tomoki Miyamoto, Park Yeon-jeong of South Korea and Australia’s Leah Blayney have been nominated for the women’s coaching award.