Lahore, 29 November : Pakistan Football Federation (PFF)’s President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat has congratulated Saudi Arabia striker Yasser Al Qahtani for becoming best current Asia ‘s footballer. Faisal Saleh Hayat had attended AFC Annual Awards Ceremony on Wednesday at Sydney, the capital of New South Wales and located on Australia’s south-eastern coast.
Yasser was crowned the AFC Player of the Year 2007 and AFC President Mohamed bin Hammam presented the prestigious award to Al Qahtani, who was joint-top scorer as he skippered his side to the final of the 14th Asian Cup 2007. Al Qahtani outscored runner-up and Asian Cup 2007 MVP Younis Mahmoud and his Iraqi counterpart Nashat Akram.
” The AFC awards salute and honor excellence in the sport and has been an annual, keenly-awaited event in the Asian football calendar since 1994. The annual awards night has always been a grand platform to proudly showcase Asian talents for their contribution to their nation, club and fans. These overwhelming talents of Asia have rapidly gained popularity and fame and are now no strangers in foreign leagues,’ said Faisal.
He also praised the efforts of other awards winners North Korea’s Kim Kum-II (AFC Youth Player of the Year), Iran’s Vahid Shamsaee (AFC Futsal Player of the Year), Uzbekistan’s Rauf Inileev (Coach of the Year), Australia ‘s Mark Shield (Referee of the Year), Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Hamad Al Ghamdi (Assistant Referee of the Year).