Aghily loses out, Keshavarz wins

PFDC – KUALA LUMPUR, Uzbekistan and Al Shabab midfielder Server Djeparov won the Asian player of the year award ahead of Hadi Aghily on Wednesday.

The two were the only remaining contenders for the formerly serious award which has turned into a crowing of no-name average players ever since change of the ruling in 2005.

One of the rulings, that only players present in the award ceremony can win the award, basically rules out all European based players, who usually have club commitments such as the UEFA Champions League.

Djeparov, a no name on international stage, won the award for the second time after 2008, with his most notable achievement being the fact that he showed up to the award show twice.

Rumours ahead of the ceremony said Iran defender Aghily would be named winner and even the Asian football confederation’s official tweet announced the 30-year-old as player of the year before changing the entry in favour of Djeparov.

Even worse than the player of the year award was the club of the year prize which went to Qatar’s Al Sadd, who were eliminated in AFC Champions League’s quarterfinals by Sepahan. However, a controversial decision gave them a lift to semis, where a disgraceful act of unfairness brought them into the final, which was luckily won on penalties.

Instead of condemning the ridiculous act of an else unimpressive Al Sadd team, who had scored the decisive goal after their opponents had played the ball out of bounds in order to allow severly injured players receiving treatment and didn’t continue play because Al Sadd were expected to hand possession back as usual, AFC crowned the “shame of Asia” as role model for Asia.

Meanwhile Iran’s Mohammad Keshavarz was named Futsal player of the year.