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 con.