Qatar and China win top AFC awards

MUSCAT: Abdelkarim Hassan, the Qatari defender, was named the Men's AFC Player of the Year during the annual awards ceremony which was organized by Oman Football Association and held at the Oman Convention and Exhibitions Centre in Muscat on Wednesday.
On receiving his award, the 25-year-old defender admitted even he did not expect to win the award as he was up against Kento Misao and Yuma Suzuki, who were part of the Kashima Antlers team which won the AFC Champions League recently.
"I hope after winning to get a chance to play in Europe, I have the mentality to play in European leagues," he said.
Hassan added: "Being nominated with two Japanese players was an honour, and I did not expect to win."
A former Qatari young player of the year, Hassan currently plays for Al Sadd in the same team as Barcelona great, Xavi Hernandez.
However he has played in Europe for the Qatari-owned Belgian League side, KAS Eupen.
Hassan was loaned out to the Belgian First Division A side by Al Sadd for 10 matches last season.
He has made 69 appearances for the Qatari national team and is likely to be one of the players who features prominently for the Gulf country when they host the World Cup in 2022.
However, China’s Wang Shuang won the Women’s Player of the Year Award for her outstanding performance last year at the Asian level. Shunag has played for Paris Saint-Germain and has represented her country at the highest level and hopes that one day she can play in the World Cup.
There was consolation for Japanese stars in other categories however.
From a coaching standpoint, Japan proved to be the big winners as both Coaches of the Year for men and women were scooped up by Japanese mentors with Kashima Antlers’ Go Oiwa getting the award for men while Asako Takakura for women.
The other awards which were handed out at the ceremony was the AFC Member Association of the Year award for the Aspiring, Developing and Inspiring category which was won by Mongolia for the most Aspiring Association followed by DPR Korea in the Developing category and Japan adding one more award to their kitty by winning the Inspiring category.
In the AFC President Recognition Award for Grassroots Football the Palestine Football Federation won the Aspiring category while Football Association of Singapore won the Developing category with China Football Association completing the Inspiring category.
Besides the Player of the Year Award there was the AFC Diamond Award which was handed to Zhang Jilong of China for his outstanding contribution to the game of football. With inputs from AFP