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The Peninsula
Doha: Qatar's Akram Afif has been shortlisted for Asian Player of the Year award as the highly anticipated and star-studded cast of nominees for the AFC Annual Awards Seoul 2023 was announced on Tuesday, with just under a month left to the gala ceremony.
Asia's finest, headlined by the coveted AFC Player of the Year and AFC Women's Player of the Year accolades, will be crowned on October 29 when the 28th edition of the AFC Annual Awards take place at the stunning Grand Peace Palace of the Kyung Hee University.
A world-class cast is in the running for the prestigious Player of the Year awards with Jordan's Yazan Al Naimat and South Korea's Seol Young-woo joining Afif in contest for the AFC Player of the Year, while Cortnee Vine, Kiko Seike and Kim Hye-ri are up for the AFC Women's Player of the Year.
Afif's supreme tournament display lit up the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 as defending champions Qatar retained their crown on home soil in captivating fashion.
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.
Meanwhile, one of the key men behind Jordan's memorable Asian Cup campaign, Al Naimat contributed four goals and two assists to help the West Asians reach the showpiece Final for the first time ever.
The striker led the line with aplomb and three of his goals came in the Knockout Stage – the Round of 16 and Semi-final, as well as his country's maiden goal in the Final. Al Naimat also helped Jordan top their group in the second round of the AFC Asian QualifiersTM, netting thrice to keep them on track for a FIFA World Cup debut.
Having established himself at club level for the past two years, Seol propelled himself into the Korea Republic national team with a series of strong performances following his senior debut in June 2023.
The indefatigable full-back went on to start every game of their AFC Asian CupTM campaign in Qatar, notably setting up their stoppage-time equaliser in the last 16 against Saudi Arabia.
Able to play on either flank, the full-back continued to star for Ulsan HD and was indispensable in their second consecutive K League 1 triumph and run to the AFC Champions LeagueTM 2023/24 Semi-finals.
AFC Player of the Year:
Yazan Al Naimat (Al Ahli SC/Al Arabi SC and JOR)
Seol Young-woo (Ulsan HD/Crvena Zvezda and KOR)
Akram Afif (Al Sadd SC and QAT)
AFC Women's Player of the Year:
Cortnee Vine (Sydney FC/North Carolina Courage and AUS)
Kiko Seike (Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies/Brighton & Hove Albion and JPN)
Kim Hye-ri (Hyundai Steel Red Angels and KOR)
AFC Asian International Player of the Year (Men):
Mehdi Taremi (FC Porto/Internazionale and IRN)
Mousa Al Tamari (Montpellier HSC and JOR)
Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur and KOR)
AFC Asian International Player of the Year (Women):
Ellie Carpenter (Olympique Lyonnais and AUS)
Yui Hasegawa (Manchester City and JPN)
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