The Asian Footballer of the Year award is an annual prize awarded to the best Asian player in a calendar year.
History
A football handbook took a poll about who was the best Asian footballer in 1985, and this poll is regarded as the origin of the Asian footballer award.[1][2] However, it was not a selection of clear process or official organization, and is generally excluded from the list.[3][4] The award began in 1988 through International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) with sport magazines and journalists, then the presenter was changed to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 1994.[3][4]
Since 2005, the award gives its qualification to nominees who attend the awards ceremony, and so the rule caused much controversy about excluding players who could not attend the ceremony by playing for European clubs.[5][6][7][8][9] Among them, Park Ji-sung and Shunsuke Nakamura were nominated for Ballon d'Or. The AFC is awarding the "Asian International Player of the Year" award to reduce the controversy since 2012, but AFC awards were still having problems that the process and criteria of selection were obscure. Eventually, the "Best Footballer in Asia" award inspired by Ballon d'Or was made in 2013.[10]
When continental confederations including AFC cancelled their awards ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, IFFHS restarted to select the Players of the Year about the world and each continent.
Winners
IFFHS award
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The IFFHS Asian Player of the Year is an annual prize presented by International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). It had originally been the predecessor of the AFC Player of the Year, but was revived in 2020.
| Year | Rank | Player | Team | Points | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 1st |  Ahmed Radhi |
Al-Rasheed |
26 | [3] |
| 2nd |  Kim Joo-sung |
Daewoo Royals |
16 | ||
| 3rd |  Majed Abdullah |
Al Nassr |
14 | ||
| 1989 | 1st | Kim Joo-sung |
Daewoo Royals |
38 | [3] |
| 2nd | Majed Abdullah |
Al Nassr |
12 | ||
| 3rd | Ahmed Radhi |
Al-Rasheed |
6 | ||
| 1990 | 1st | Kim Joo-sung |
Daewoo Royals |
36 | [3] |
| 2nd |  Farshad Pious |
Persepolis |
28 | ||
| 3rd |  Adnan Al-Talyani |
Al-Shaab |
16 | ||
| 1991 | 1st | Kim Joo-sung |
Daewoo Royals |
31 | [11] |
| 2nd | Chung Yong-hwan |
Daewoo Royals |
28 | ||
| 3rd | Samad Marfavi |
Esteghlal |
16 | ||
| 1992 | 1st |  Kazuyoshi Miura |
Verdy Kawasaki |
30 | [3][12] |
| 2nd | Fahad Al-Bishi |
Al Nassr |
17 | ||
| 3rd | Mehdi Fonounizadeh |
Esteghlal |
13 | ||
| Not awarded from 1993 to 2019 | |||||
| 2020 | 1st |  Son Heung-min |
 Tottenham Hotspur |
— | [13] |
| — | Sardar Azmoun |
 Zenit Saint Petersburg | |||
 Takumi Minamino |
Liverpool | ||||
| 2021 | 1st | Son Heung-min |
Tottenham Hotspur |
— | [14] |
| 2022 | 1st | Son Heung-min |
Tottenham Hotspur |
— | [15] |
AFC award
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The AFC Player of the Year is an annual prize presented by Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is awarded to the Asian player who has the best performance at AFC club(s) in a calendar year.
AFC award (international)
The AFC Asian International Player of the Year is an annual prize presented by Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is awarded to the Asian player who has the best performance outside Asia in a calendar year.
Statistics
Wins by player
| Player | Wins | Years won |
|---|---|---|
| Son Heung-min |
7 | 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 |
| Kim Joo-sung |
3 | 1989, 1990, 1991 |
| Hidetoshi Nakata |
2 | 1997, 1998 |
 Server Djeparov |
2 | 2008, 2011 |
 Akram Afif |
2 | 2019, 2023 |
 Ahmed Radhi |
1 | 1988 |
| Kazuyoshi Miura |
1 | 1992 |
| Saeed Owairan |
1 | 1994 |
| Masami Ihara |
1 | 1995 |
| Khodadad Azizi |
1 | 1996 |
| Ali Daei |
1 | 1999 |
| Nawaf Al-Temyat |
1 | 2000 |
 Fan Zhiyi |
1 | 2001 |
| Shinji Ono |
1 | 2002 |
| Mehdi Mahdavikia |
1 | 2003 |
| Ali Karimi |
1 | 2004 |
| Hamad Al-Montashari |
1 | 2005 |
| Khalfan Ibrahim |
1 | 2006 |
| Yasser Al-Qahtani |
1 | 2007 |
| Yasuhito Endō |
1 | 2009 |
 Sasa Ognenovski |
1 | 2010 |
| Lee Keun-ho |
1 | 2012 |
| Shinji Kagawa |
1 | 2012 |
| Yuto Nagatomo |
1 | 2013 |
| Zheng Zhi |
1 | 2013 |
| Mile Jedinak |
1 | 2014 |
| Nasser Al-Shamrani |
1 | 2014 |
| Ahmed Khalil |
1 | 2015 |
| Omar Abdulrahman |
1 | 2016 |
| Shinji Okazaki |
1 | 2016 |
 Omar Kharbin |
1 | 2017 |
| Abdelkarim Hassan |
1 | 2018 |
| Makoto Hasebe |
1 | 2018 |
| Kim Min-jae |
1 | 2022 |
| Salem Al-Dawsari |
1 | 2022 |
Wins by nationality
| Country | Wins |
|---|---|
| South Korea |
12 |
| Japan |
10 |
| Saudi Arabia |
6 |
| Iran |
4 |
| Qatar |
4 |
| Australia |
2 |
| China |
2 |
| United Arab Emirates |
2 |
| Uzbekistan |
2 |
| Iraq |
1 |
| Syria |
1 |
See also
Notes
- The only woman player to be nominated for the award.
- Only two players of the shortlist competed for the award under a new rule to omit nominees who didn't attend the ceremony.
- Points of the AFC were exceptionally released in this year. Nakamura and Adnan were tied for second with 100 points each behind Endō who received 120 points.
References
External links
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