Cristiano Ronaldo to battle Son Heung-min and Akram Afif for Best Footballer in Asia crown
Winner of 12th Best Footballer in Asia crown will be revealed next week, with Asian Cup and Olympic Games stars in the running
Son Heung-min’s stranglehold on the Best Footballer in Asia crown is under threat, after organisers revealed voting for this year’s award was the tightest since the South Korean pipped Omar Kharbin to the 2017 honour.
The winner of the 2024 prize will be announced next week, with Son’s unbroken seven-year reign vulnerable to challenges from stars including Cristiano Ronaldo, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Soufiane Rahimi and Qatar’s AFC Asian Cup winner Akram Afif.
The Best Footballer in Asia award, which was launched in 2013, is decided by a panel of roughly 60 journalists from around the continent.
It is open to players from Asia, in addition to all of those tied to clubs on the continent. Son has won nine of the 11 editions, and claimed his seventh straight award in 2023.
The Tottenham Hotspur attacker was unable to help South Korea break their 63-year Asian Cup duck at this year’s tournament in Qatar, where they crashed out in the semi-finals following a 2-0 defeat by Jordan.
Forward Afif, 27, scored eight tournament goals for the triumphant hosts, including a hat-trick of penalties in Qatar’s 3-1 final victory over Jordan. Afif netted in a 3-2 last-four success against Iran and the winner when Palestine were beaten 2-1 in the round of 16. He was also top scorer with 26 goals as his team, Al Sadd, won the 2023-24 Qatari Stars League, too.
