AFC Player of the Year (Men) Criteria

Thu, 28 Oct, 2021

AFC Player of the Year (Men) Criteria

Please find below the criteria for the AFC Player of the Year (Men), AFC Foreign Player of the Year and the AFC Asian International Player of the Year.

AFC Player of the Year (Men):

  1. The “AFC Player of the Year” will be awarded only to Asian players playing in Asia.

  2. The point system will be used to determine a shortlist of nominees. The current point system gives corresponding points to the Man of the Match depending on the competition, as follows:

Competition (**Points)**
a. World Cup (Finals): (60)
b. World Cup (Round 4): (25)
c. World Cup (Round 3): (20)
d. Asian Cup (Finals): (40)
e. Asian Cup Qualifiers (final round): (20)
f. Olympics: (40)
g. AFC Champions League: (15)
h. AFC Cup: (10)

A shortlist of nominees will then be created based on the total points garnered by each player.

  1. The Man of the Match is selected by the Technical Study Group (TSG) for centralised competitions and by AFC Technical Analysts (AFC TA) and Match Commissioners (MC) for non-centralised competitions.

  2. The achievements of the player/teams will be one of the main criteria in the selection process from the beginning.

  3. Fair Play is also part of the criteria whereby 10 points will be deducted for Red Card and 5 points will be deducted for yellow card.

  4. The number of goals scored (for strikers and midfielders only) will be considered when there is a tie.

  5. A panel of Technical Experts will be tasked to pre-select the nominated players and come up with possible Player of the Year selection scenarios.

  6. Nominated player must be present at the Awards Ceremony.

AFC Foreign Player of the Year

  1. The “AFC Foreign Player of the Year” will be awarded to the best non-Asian player who plays in the AFC Champions League or AFC Cup.

  2. The Man of the Match for the AFC Champions League receives 15 points while for the AFC Cup, the Man of the Match receives 10 points. A shortlist of nominees will be created based on the total points garnered by the foreign players nominated as Man of the Match.

  3. The selection of the Man of the Match is done by Match Commissioner (MC) and AFC Technical Analysts (AFC TA).

a. If the Man of the Match selected is Asian, AFC TA will still check if a foreign player was outstanding during the game

b. If the Man of the Match for the ACL and AFC Cup chosen by MC is different from the AFC TA, a third analyst will be tasked to review the match and choose either of the two chosen by the MC or TA.

  1. The achievements of the player/teams will be one of the main criteria in the selection process from the beginning.

  2. Fair Play is also part of the criteria whereby 10 points will be deducted for Red Card and 5 points will be deducted for yellow card.

  3. The number of goals scored (for strikers and midfielders only) will be considered when there is a tie.

  4. A panel of Technical Experts will be tasked to pre-select the nominated players and come up with possible Foreign Player of the Year selection scenarios.

  5. Nominated player must be present at the Awards Ceremony.

AFC Asian International Player of the Year

  1. The award will be given to an outstanding Asian player who plays in leagues in other confederations covering the period from 01 December of previous year (to include Club World Cup) to 15 November of the current year.

  2. The following will be considered in the selection of the candidates:

a. Level of International Club Competition (i.e. Club World Cup, Confederation Competition)

b. Level of the Domestic League Competition (i.e. Spain’s La Liga, English Premier League, Germany’s Bundesliga, and Italy’s Serie A are to be considered as the top 4 in the world).

c. Quality and performance of the Team.

d. Attributes that add value to the Team’s performance.

e. Players’ statistics (Number of Minutes played, Goals Scored, Cards, etc.)

f. Achievements

g. Performance in National Team Duty

  1. A selection panel composed of three (3) members will be formed to create the short-list based on the above considerations. The members of the panel would come from the football media personality who cover leagues from other parts of the world as follows:

o Football media personality with general coaching or playing experience.

o Football media personality with playing experience at the high level and a general coaching experience.

o Football media personality with coaching experience at the high level.

  1. The short-list will then be reviewed by a Technical Panel of experts as formed by AFC.

  2. Nominated player must be present at the Awards Ceremony.