2019 Asian Player of the Year: Akram Afif

Al-Sadd and Qatar national team star Akram Afif has been named as the Asian Player of the Year at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC)’s annual awards ceremony, held on Monday, 2 December in Hong Kong.

The award was presented on behalf of the young Qatari star to Al-Sadd coach Xavi Hernandez from Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, and Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, president of the Asian Football Confederation, during the ceremony, which was attended by AFC executives, presidents of the federations and players and coaches from the Asian continent.

Akram won the award after beating Japanese defender Tomoaki Makino and Iranian goalkeeper Ali Reza Beiranvand. He was not in Hong Kong for the ceremony, after receiving an exception from the AFC due to his participation with the Qatar national team in their 24th Gulf Cup game against the UAE match, which will be held today.

Akram has become one of the most prominent stars in the Qatar national team and Al Sadd, and despite his young age, he has achieved remarkable successes: winning the 2019 Asian Cup with Qatar, and winning the Qatar Stars League title with Al Sadd Club, in addition to reaching the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League. He was the leading Qatari and second overall  top scorer in the domestic league last season and was also named as the QFA Player of the Year in May.

With this win, Akram became the third Qatari player to win the Asian Player of the Year award, followed by former Al-Sadd star Khalfan Ibrahim Khalfan in 2006 and current Al-Sadd full-back Abdulkarim Hassan in 2018.