Top honours await at AFC Awards Night

Australian teams and officials are in line to win four awards at the AFC Awards Night extravaganza to be held in Shanghai, China on November 25.

Australian teams and officials are in line to win four awards at the AFC Awards Night extravaganza to be held in Shanghai, China on November 25.

Adelaide-s success in the AFC Champions League sees them in the running to win the AFC Club Team of the Year, although their conquerors in the final of that competition Gamba Osaka are a clear favourite to win the Award. Uzbekistan-s Kuruvchi/Bunyodkor and Japanese outfit Urawa Red Diamonds are the other teams in the running.

Adelaide coach Aurelio Vidmar will battle it out with Gamba coach Akira Nishino and Shans Hossein, of Iran-s futsal team, for the AFC Coach of the Year title.

Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia are the three countries in the running for AFC National Team of the Year, while Matthew Breeze is one of five to be nominated for the AFC Referee of the Year, The five will be reduced to three before the Awards Night.

Unfortunately Travis Dodd did not make the final cut for the nights major gong, the AFC Player of the Year with Uzbekistan-s Server Djeparov, Yasuhito Endo and Yuji Nakazawa of Japan, Sebastian Soria of Qatar and the UAE-s Ismail Matar the final five to be nominated. AFC rules for this award only allow players who play in Asian domestic competitions and the AFC Champions League to be eligible for this award, which rules out most of Australia-s big name players who ply their trade in Europe.

AFC ANNUAL AWARDS 2008

AFC Diamond of Asia Winner to be announced on November 25.

AFC Association of the Year a) IR Iran Football Federation b) Japan Football Association c) Uzbekistan Football Federation

AFC Fair Play Association of the Year a) Japan Football Association b) Uzbekistan Football Federation c) IR Iran Football Federation

AFC Match Commissioner of the Year a) Kamarudin Sakhari (Malaysia) b) Mohamed Muzammil Bin Mohamed (Singapore) c) Sunil Senaweera (Sri Lanka)

AFC Referee of the Year a) Matthew Breeze (Australia) b) Yuichi Nishimura (Japan) c) Mohd Salleh Subkhiddin (Malaysia) d) Ali Hamad Al Badwawi (UAE) e) Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan) NOTE: Three finalists to be announced on November 20.

AFC Assistant Referee of the Year a) Luay Subhi (Iraq) b) Mohamed Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia) c) Bahadyr Kochkarov (Kyrgyzstan) d) Tammam Hamdoun (Syria) e) Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan) NOTE: Three finalists to be announced on November 20.

AFC Coach of the Year a) Aurelio Vidmar (Australia - coach of Adelaide United) b) Akira Nishino (Japan - coach of Gamba Osaka) c) Hossein Shams (Iran - coach of Iran futsal team)

AFC Futsal Team of the Year a) IR Iran b) Japan c) Thailand

AFC Club Team of the Year a) Kuruvchi/Bunyodkor (Uzbekistan) b) Adelaide United (Australia) c) Gamba Osaka (Japan) d) Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan)

AFC National Team of the Year a) Australia b) Japan c) Saudi Arabia

AFC Youth Player of the Year a) Lee Jong-ho (Korea Republic)

NOTE: TWO MORE NOMINEES WILL BE SELECTED AFTER THE AFC U-19 CHAMPIONSHIP WHICH IS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY IN SAUDI ARABIA.

AFC Futsal Player of the Year a) Mostafa Nazari (Iran) b) Daisuke Ono (Japan) c) Vahid Shamsaee (Iran)

AFC Player of the Year a) Sebastian Soria (Qatar and Qatar SC - Qatar ) b) Ismael Matar (UAE and Al Wahda - UAE) c) Server Djeparov (Uzbekistan and Kuruvchi/Bunyodkor - Uzbekistan) d) Yuji Nakazawa (Japan and Yokohama F Marinos - Japan) e) Yasuhito Endo (Japan and Gamba Osaka - Japan)