TEHRAN – Iranian futsal player Saeid Ahmad Abbasi was named the AFC Futsal Player of the Year at the AFC Annual Awards Seoul 2023 on Tuesday.
Ahamad Abbasi edged Fayzali Sardorov of Tajikiatan and Dilshod Rakhmatov of Uzbekistan.
Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh, Vahid Shamsaei, Mohammad Taheri, Muhammad Keshavarz and Moslem Oladghobad had won the trophy.
The 28th edition of the AFC Annual Awards, held at the magnificent Grand Peace Palace of the Kyung Hee University, reviewed a year that saw the confederation host its biggest and best men’s Asian Cup to date in Qatar.
It has been a year that saw a full repertoire of AFC national championships post-pandemic, as the AFC reimposed its competition calendar including its Champions League and AFC Cup club competitions that proved a springboard for this season’s expansion to two tiers of the Champions League and a third cup competition for emerging teams. There has also been an extensive cycle of national team age group competitions.
Qatar’s Akram Afif has been named the Asian Football Confederation’s Player of the Year for a second time with Kiko Seike from Japan securing the women’s title at the regional body’s annual awards ceremony.
Afif, who had previously won the award in 2019, was presented with the trophy after his performances had been instrumental in Qatar’s successful defense of their Asian Cup title on home soil earlier in the year.
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-times winner Aya Miyama.
The striker’s form was key to Urawa Red Diamonds’ title win in the Asian Women’s Club Championship in 2023 as well as helping her club secure a second consecutive Japanese domestic league title before signing for Brighton & Hove Albion in July.