Best Footballer in Asia

Best Footballer in Asia (Chinese: 亚洲金球奖) is an annual association football award organized and presented by Titan Sports. It is awarded to the player who had the best performance for Asian football during the previous calendar year.

History

Inspired by Ballon d'Or and France Football, the editorial team of Titan Sports decided to launch an award in honor of the player deemed to have performed the best in Asian football over the previous year.^[1] This award was founded in 2013. The winner is voted by a panel of football journalists, the majority of whom are from nations/regions corresponding to national associations of Asian Football Confederation, while the others are from media outlets of non-AFC nations/regions.

Eligibility

The prize is open to all footballers who participate Asian football, by playing for national teams or clubs affiliated to Asian Football Confederation during the targeted calendar year.^[2]

In detail, three categories of players are eligible to be nominated as candidates of the prize.

a) Footballers who have nationality/citizenship of nations/regions corresponding to national associations affiliated to AFC, and play for football clubs affiliated to AFC. (e.g. Omar Abdulrahman, the UAE footballer playing for Al Ain won the second place in Best Footballer in Asia 2016)

b) Footballers who play for non-AFC clubs, and are eligible to play FIFA 'A' matches during the targeted year representing national teams (either senior level or any junior level) of national associations affiliated to AFC. (e.g. Son Heung-min, who played in European leagues and Korea Republic national football team, is the record Best Footballer in Asia winner).

c) Footballers who are not citizens of nations/regions corresponding to national associations affiliated to AFC, and play for football clubs of national associations affiliated to AFC. (e.g. Elkeson, the Brazilian striker who played for Guangzhou Evergrande won the second place of the inaugural Best Footballer in Asia)

Voting

The juror team is constituted by a panel of journalists, invited from AFC nations/regions and non-AFC media outlets. Each juror contributes one vote.^[3]

Rules

Each juror selects 5 best footballers and awards them 6, 4, 3, 2 points and 1 point respectively from their first choice to the fifth choice (Before 2017, the first-choice was awarded 5 points rather than 6). The trophy of the Best Footballer in Asia is awarded to the player with the highest total of points. Since 2017, the first-choice player in each vote will be awarded 6 points while the other 4 choices will still be awarded 4, 3, 2 points and 1 point respectively according to their ranking in each vote.^[4]

Tiebreakers

When two or more candidates obtain the same points, the rankings of the concerned candidates would be based upon the following criteria in order.

a) The number of the 1st-place vote obtained

b) The number of the 2nd-place vote obtained

c) The number of the 3rd-place vote obtained

d) The number of the 4th-place vote obtained

If all conditions are equal, the concerned candidates will be tied in rankings.

If the concerned candidates are tied in the first-place, the concerned candidates will share the award and the trophy.

Winners

Year	Rank	Player	Club	Points	Ratio
2013	1st	Keisuke Honda	CSKA Moscow	46	13.9%
	2nd	Elkeson^{[note 1]}	Guangzhou Evergrande	32	9.7%
	3rd	Darío Conca	Guangzhou Evergrande	32	9.7%

2014	1st	Son Heung-min	Bayer Leverkusen	74	20.6%
	2nd	Keisuke Honda	Milan	56	15.6%
	3rd	Ante Covic	Western Sydney Wanderers	37	10.3%

2015	1st	Son Heung-min^{[note 2]}	Tottenham Hotspur	49	16.3%
	2nd	Zheng Zhi^{[note 3]}	Guangzhou Evergrande	32	10.7%
	3rd	Ricardo Goulart	Guangzhou Evergrande	32	10.7%

2016	1st	Shinji Okazaki	Leicester City	126	22.1%
	2nd	Omar Abdulrahman	Al Ain	123	21.6%
	3rd	Son Heung-min	Tottenham Hotspur	109	19.1%

2017	1st	Son Heung-min	Tottenham Hotspur	157	23.4%
	2nd	Omar Kharbin	Al Hilal	127	18.9%
	3rd	Rafael Silva	Urawa Red Diamonds	57	8.5%

2018	1st	Son Heung-min	Tottenham Hotspur	206	29.3%
	2nd	Makoto Hasebe	Eintracht Frankfurt	64	9.1%
	3rd	Alireza Beiranvand	Persepolis	50	7.1%

2019	1st	Son Heung-min	Tottenham Hotspur	258	31.6%
	2nd	Akram Afif	Al Sadd	114	14.0%
	3rd	Takumi Minamino	Red Bull Salzburg	90	11.0%

2020	1st	Son Heung-min	Tottenham Hotspur	286	35.0%
	2nd	Sardar Azmoun	Zenit Saint Petersburg	89	10.9%
	3rd	Júnior Negrão	Ulsan Hyundai	83	10.2%

2021	1st	Son Heung-min	Tottenham Hotspur	242	30.3%
	2nd	Sardar Azmoun	Zenit Saint Petersburg	111	13.9%
	3rd	Mehdi Taremi	Porto	90	11.3%

2022	1st	Son Heung-min	Tottenham Hotspur	256	26.7%
	2nd	Mehdi Taremi	Porto	120	12.5%
	3rd	Salem Al-Dawsari	Al Hilal	112	11.7%

2023	1st	Son Heung-min	Tottenham Hotspur	231	22.9%
	2nd	Kim Min-jae^{[note 4]}	Bayern Munich	197	19.5%
	3rd	Cristiano Ronaldo	Al Nassr	172	17.1%

2024	1st	Akram Afif	Al Sadd	181	18.0%
	2nd	Son Heung-min	Tottenham Hotspur	168	16.7%
	3rd	Soufiane Rahimi	Al Ain	115	11.4%

Statistics

Wins by player

Player	Wins	2nd	3rd
Son Heung-min	9	1	1
Akram Afif	1	1	0
Keisuke Honda	1	1	0
Shinji Okazaki	1	0	0

Wins by nationality

Nation	Wins	2nd	3rd
South Korea	9	2	1
Japan	2	2	1
Qatar	1	1	0

Notes

^ 6 first-place votes were given to Elkeson while Darío Conca won 1 first-place vote. According to the rules, Elkeson was ranked at the 2nd-place and Darío Conca was ranked at the 3rd.
^ Son Heung-min was signed by Tottenham Hotspur from Bayer Leverkusen midway through 2015.
^ 4 first-place votes were given to Zheng Zhi while Ricardo Goulart won 1 first-place vote. According to the rules, Zheng Zhi was ranked at the 2rd-place and Ricardo Goulart was ranked at the 3rd.
^ Kim Min-jae was signed by Bayern Munich from Napoli midway through 2023.

References

^ "Made in Titan: Best Footballer in Asia aims to record the history of football (in Chinese) 媒体参与书写足球历史亚洲金球奖体坛制造". Titan Sports. 25 October 2013. Archived from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
^ "Best Footballer in Asia award: All you need to know". FoxSportsAsia. 26 December 2017. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
^ "Best Footballer in Asia 2017: How is the winner selected?". FoxSportsAsia. 27 December 2017. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
^ "Best Footballer in Asia award: All you need to know". FoxSportsAsia. 26 December 2017. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.

[5] 6 first-place votes were given to Elkeson while Darío Conca won 1 first-place vote. According to the rules, Elkeson was ranked at the 2nd-place and Darío Conca was ranked at the 3rd.

[6] Son Heung-min was signed by Tottenham Hotspur from Bayer Leverkusen midway through 2015.

[7] 4 first-place votes were given to Zheng Zhi while Ricardo Goulart won 1 first-place vote. According to the rules, Zheng Zhi was ranked at the 2rd-place and Ricardo Goulart was ranked at the 3rd.

[8] Kim Min-jae was signed by Bayern Munich from Napoli midway through 2023.

[1] "Made in Titan: Best Footballer in Asia aims to record the history of football (in Chinese) 媒体参与书写足球历史亚洲金球奖体坛制造". Titan Sports. 25 October 2013. Archived from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2016.

[2] "Best Footballer in Asia award: All you need to know". FoxSportsAsia. 26 December 2017. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.

[3] "Best Footballer in Asia 2017: How is the winner selected?". FoxSportsAsia. 27 December 2017. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.

[4] "Best Footballer in Asia award: All you need to know". FoxSportsAsia. 26 December 2017. Archived from the original on 9 January 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.

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