The Asian Football Confederation announced on Tuesday evening the list of players nominated for the Best Player in Asia Award for 2023.
The AFC awards are divided as usual into several categories, including the best player playing in Asia, the best professional outside the yellow continent, the best coach, and others.
In the Best Player in Asia Award, there is fierce Arab competition between Jordanian Yazan Al-Naimat and Qatari Akram Afif after their great role in the 2023 Asian Cup, along with South Korean Seol Young-woo.
As for the Best Professional Award, Arabs appear for the first time in many years through Jordanian star Musa Al-Taamari, the star of French Montpellier.
Al-Taamari competes with two big stars, namely Iranian Mehdi Taremi and South Korean Heung-Min Son.
In the Best Coach Award, there is a bit of a surprise with the exclusion of Qatar coach Marquez and even former Jordan coach Hussein Ammouta despite their achievements in the continental World Cup.
AFC Best Awards Nominations
2023 AFC Player of the Year
- Yazan Al-Naimat (Al-Ahli/Al-Arabi, Jordan).
- Seol Young-woo (Ulsan/Crvena Zvezda, Republic of Korea)
- Akram Afif (Al-Sadd, Qatar).
Best International Player
- Mehdi Taremi (Porto/Inter Milan, Iran)
- Musa Al-Taamari (Montpellier, Jordan)
- Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur, Republic of Korea)
AFC Coach of the Year (Men)
- Graham Arnold (Australia)
- Go Oiwa (Japan U23)
- Hwang Sun-hong (Korea U23)
