Qatar’s Akram Afif, Japan’s Kiko Seike win AFC Player of the Year awards

Al Sadd forward Afif won the award for the second time after leading Qatar to the AFC Asian Cup title at home in 2023.

Qatar’s Akram Afif has been named the Asian Football Confederation’s Player of the Year for a second time, along with Kiko Seike from Japan, who secured the women’s title at the regional body’s annual awards ceremony in Seoul.

Afif, who had previously won the award in 2019, was presented with the trophy following his instrumental performances in Qatar’s successful defence of their Asian Cup title on home soil earlier in the year.

“I’m nervous like I’m about to take a penalty in the final,” Afif said as he accepted the award on Monday.

“I thank my wife and all the national team members, coaches, administrators and medical team.

“I will try again to win this award for a third time.”

In February, the 27-year-old Al Sadd forward became the first player to score a hat-trick in the Asian Cup final and netted eight times throughout the tournament to secure the award ahead of Jordan’s Yazan Al-Naimat and South Korean Seol Young-woo.

Afif is only the third player to win the trophy multiple times, following Japan’s Hidetoshi Nakata, who won in 1997 and 1998, and Server Djeparov of Uzbekistan, who won in 2008 and 2011.

Kiko Seike of Japan (right) won her first AFC Footballer of the Year award [File: Paul Childs/Reuters]

Seike succeeds Australia’s Sam Kerr to win the women’s award ahead of Australia’s Cortnee Vine and Kim Hye-ri of South Korea and is the fourth Japanese player to claim the title after Homare Sawa, Saki Kumagai and three-time winner Aya Miyama.

The striker’s form was key to Urawa Red Diamonds’ title win in the Asian Women’s Club Championship in 2023. She helped her club secure a second consecutive Japanese domestic league title before signing for Brighton & Hove Albion in July.

“I’m very happy to receive this prestigious award”, Seike said via video message.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min was named the AFC Men’s International Player of the Year. Australian Ellie Carpenter won the women’s award, recognising players who have made the biggest impact on the dunia stage outside of Asian competitions.

Go Oiwa won Coach of the Year after leading Japan to the Under-23 Asian Cup and the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games, with Park Young-jeon, head coach of South Korea’s Under-20s, winning the women’s title.

🇶🇦 Akram Afif etches his name in the pantheon of Asian football legends once again!#AFCAwards2023 pic.twitter.com/MKfzRHwmpq

— AFC (@theafcdotcom) October 29, 2024