The Asian Footballer of the Year is an annual prize awarded to the best Asian player in a calendar year, organized by International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) and Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

History

The origin of the award was an unofficial poll launched to mark the first edition of a football handbook in 1985. The award began in 1988 through IFFHS with sport magazines and journalists, then the presenter was changed to the AFC in 1994. Since 2005, the award gives its qualification to nominees who attend the awards ceremony, and so the rule caused much controversy about excluding players who could not attend the ceremony by playing for European clubs. Among them, Park Ji-sung and Shunsuke Nakamura were nominated for Ballon d'Or. The AFC is awarding the "International Player of the Year" award to reduce the controversy since 2012, but AFC awards were still having problems that the process and criteria of selection were obscure. Eventually, the " Best Footballer in Asia" award inspired by Ballon d'Or was made in 2013. When continental confederations including AFC cancelled their awards ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, IFFHS restarted to select the Players of the Year about the world and each continent.

Winners

IFFHS award (1988–present)

AFC award (1994–present)

Server Djeparov playing for Esteghlal against Tractor Sazi 02

International AFC award (2012–present)

Statistics

Multiple winners

The asterisk means international winner.

Wins by nationality

Notes

References

External links

Asian Player of the Year
at RSSSF {{AFC Asian International Player of the Year Asian Football Confederation trophies and awards *Asian AFC Footballer