Diamond Award for Al-Mohannadi
Saudi Arabia’s Salem Al-Dawsari of Al-Hilal FC was named AFC Player of the Year and Australia striker Samantha Kerr was named Player of the Year at the AFC Annual Awards at the Al-Mayassa Theater in Doha.
Al-Dawsari scored the winning goal in Saudi Arabia’s surprise win over Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar and played a key role in his club’s successful participation in the Club World Cup, reaching the final of the AFC Champions League and the double in Saudi Pro League and King’s Cup. Al-Dawsari is the sixth Saudi and fifth Al-Hilal player to receive the top honor. Almoez Ali (Qatar, Al-Duhail) and Mathew Leckie (Australia, Melbourne City) were chosen in second and third place. Only footballers playing in Asia are eligible to vote. This did not take place in 2020 and 2021.
Ex-Napoli defender Min-jae Kim from South Korea was honored at the separate AFC International Player of the Year honors. The new signing from FC Bayern led the SSC to its first championship title since 1990 and is the first South Korean after Heung-min Son (2015, 2017 and 2019) to win the award. Mehdi Taremi (Iran, FC Porto) and Kaoru Mitoma (Japan, Brighton & Hove Albion) were chosen in second and third place.
AFC Coach of the Year is Japan’s Hajime Moriyasu, who led the national team to the round of 16 of the World Cup after victories over Germany and Spain. The Youth Player of the Year award also went to Japan. Kuryu Matsuki from Aomori Yamada High School and FC Tokyo was honored with the award.
“Post mortem” Saoud Al-Mohannadi from Qatar received the “Diamond of Asia” Award, the continental association’s highest honor. The 63-year-old Katari was vice-president of the local association and also one of the vice-presidents of the AFC and part of the FIFA Council. Australia’s youth work was awarded “Gold” and Uzbekistan’s work on and off the pitch was awarded “Platinum”.
Other honors at the Annual AFC Awards:
Referee team of the year
Chris Beath (Australia) – referee,
Anton Shchetinin (Australia) – assistant,
Ashley Beecham (Australia) – Assistant,
Ammar Al-Jneibi (United Arab Emirates) – VAR.
“Grassroots” Award
Gold: Australia
Silver: Guam
Bronze: India
Association of the Year
Platinum: Uzbekistan
Diamond: Lebanon
Gold: Hong Kong
Ruby: Guam
Regional Association of the Year
Central Asian Football Association
To home page