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| Written by AFC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, 18 November 2009 09:59 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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AFC - KUALA LUMPUR, AFC has announced the list of nominees for all categories for the
 AFC Annual Awards 2009, which takes place on November 24.
A total of 18 awards - for both men and women - will be handed out at the Shangri-La Hotel here in the Malaysian capital, capping yet another glorious year of top-drawer action across the length and breadth of the vast continent. AFC Player of the Year Five players have staked weighty claims to the coveted AFC Player of the Year gong this time round. They are Syed Mohamed Adnan (Bahrain), Kengo Nakamura (Japan), Hadi Aghily (Iran), Yasuhito Endo (Japan) and Firas Al Khatib (Syria). The magnificent five have been in the thick of AFC and FIFA competitive action throughout the year and make the cut because of the Most Valuable Player points they amassed in these outings. The AFC Women’s Player of the Year award is not being given out this year as there were no senior women’s team competitions. The AFC Women’s Asian Cup was played in 2008 and Japan’s Homare Sawa was named the AFC Women’s Player of the Year. The AFC Coach of the Year for Women’s is also not been awarded this year for the same reason. The Diamond The identity of the winner of the prestigious AFC Diamond of Asia will continue to be under wraps until next Tuesday evening when fans will find out who will be joining the elite ranks of previous winners former JFA President Captain Saburo Kawabuchi, FIFA President Sepp Blatter, former UEFA chief Lennart Johannson and former JFA President, the late Ken Naganuma. Youth power Turning the focus on the future of Asia are the youth players. For the men, there are three nominees - two Korea Republic stalwarts Ki Sung-yueng and Kim Min-woo, the Asian top-scorer in the FIFA U-20 World Cup this year, and the UAE’s Ahmed Khalil, who will be looking for a double after scooping the kudos last year. The AFC Youth Player of the Year for women has only two aspirants. The current holder Mana Iwabuchi of Japan, Tournament MVP of the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship this year, and Ji So-yun of Korea Republic. Incidentally, the diminutive Iwabuchi is also in the running for FIFA World Women’s Player of the Year. Tactical prowess The AFC Coach of the Year wears an interesting look with a clutch of eligible candidates, head honchos who smashed their way to the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals. Huh Jung-moo of Korea Republic, DPR Korea’s Kim Jong-hun and Takeshi Okada of Japan will be in the mix for the laurels. In the middle Making up the nominees’ list for the AFC Referee of the Year are three heavyweights: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan), Matthew Breeze (Australia) and Ravshan Irmatov, the softspoken Uzbek who bagged the accolade last year. The nominees for the women’s side are Hong Eun-ah (Korea Republic), Melksham Jacqui (Australia) and Kamnueng Pannipar (Thailand). Running the lines correctly and spotting the off-sides and other violations has fetched Toru Sagara (Japan), Matthew Cream (Australia) and Bahadyr Kochkarov (Kyrgyzstan) nominations for the AFC Assistant Referee of the Year honour. From the women’s side, there are two nominees who have distinguished the assessors with their impeccable assistance skills - Zhang Lingling of China, Japanese veteran Hisae Yoshizawa, who picked up the silverware last year, and Airlee Keen of Australia. The commissioner With match organisation assuming crucial importance in the AFC’s professional way of doing things, the AFC Match Commissioner of the Year award, which was launched last year, puts the spotlight on four worthy contenders Talal Al Sweilmein (Jordan), Sunil Senaweera (Sri Lanka), Mazen Ramadan (Lebanon) and Abdul Ghafoor Hameed (Maldives). On the distaff side, Emily Lau (Hong Kong), Kanya Keomany (Laos) and Tracy Lu Ting (China) will be hoping their match organisation skills would tip the scales in their favour. The club The outfits vying for the coveted AFC Club of the Year are the three continental sides who established themselves at the top of the heap. The award will go to one of the three - AFC Champions League winners Pohang Steelers (Korea Republic), AFC Cup champions Kuwait SC (Kuwait), and AFC Champions League runners-up Al Ittihad (Saudi Arabia). Teamwork Moving on to the team awards, the AFC Team of the Year (men’s) has, not surprisingly, three 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, teams that will fly high the Asian flag next year in South Africa. They are DPR Korea, who qualified for only the second time for the world extravaganza after 1966, Korea Republic, their eighth successful appearance in the FIFA World Cup, and Australia. The women’s teams in contention for the honour are the Japan U-19s, the champions of the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship this year, Korea Republic U-19s, and the Korea Republic U-16s, the redoubtable winners of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship this week. By association In the fray for the AFC Association of the Year are the Iraq Football Association, regulars Japan Football Association, the Iran Football Federation, and the UAE Football Association. All the associations have wide-ranging reforms in place for the betterment of the game. The badge of honour for providing the most fillip to the women’s game will be contested by the Japan Football Association, the Vietnam Football Federation, the China Football Association, the Korean Football Association and the DPR Korea Football Association. Fair game One of the most important awards on the table will be the AFC Fairplay Association of the Year award. The contenders for the award (men) are Korea Football Association, Japan Football Association and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation. The women’s award will go to the Japan Football Association in the absence of any other challenger.
AFC ANNUAL AWARDS 2009 - NOMINEES
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| Last Updated on Wednesday, 18 November 2009 10:00 |
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