Asian Footballer of the Year
Appearance
The Asian Footballer of the Year award is presented to the best football player from Asia. Officially awarded since 1994. The official name is Asian Football Confederation's Sanyo Player of the Year Award. Prior to 1994 it was awarded on an unofficial basis. The winners from 1988 to 1993 were chosen by IFFHS. The Asian Footballer of the Year award for 1993 was actually for players' performances during the 1992 season, but was not awarded till the following year.
A controversial new rule in 2005 made attendance to the awards ceremony mandatory. This automatically excluded prominent Asian players playing their trade in European clubs from being even considered for the award.[1]
Winners
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Mehdi_Mahdavikia-1385.jpg/170px-Mehdi_Mahdavikia-1385.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Ali-Karimi-2008-Semnan.jpg/170px-Ali-Karimi-2008-Semnan.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Hamad_Al-Montashari_2009.jpg/170px-Hamad_Al-Montashari_2009.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Yasser_Al-Qahtani_2010.jpg/170px-Yasser_Al-Qahtani_2010.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Yasuhito_End%C5%8D_against_Bahrain_June_22_2008.png/170px-Yasuhito_End%C5%8D_against_Bahrain_June_22_2008.png)
Wins By Country
Nation | Winners | runner-ups | third places |
---|---|---|---|
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6 | 3 | 4 |
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4 | 3 | 4 |
![]() |
4 | 2 | 1 |
![]() |
3 | 1 | 2 |
![]() |
1 | 1 | 2 |
![]() |
1 | 1 | 1 |
![]() |
1 | 1 | 1 |
![]() |
1 | 0 | 1 |
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1 | 0 | 0 |