MEET THE PRESS
You are cordially invited to attend the “MEET THE PRESS” with Pakistan Football Federation (PPF)’s Secretary General Lt. Col ® Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi as per following schedule.
Venue : Media Centre, Jinnah
Stadium, Islamabad
Date : Friday, 30 November 2007
Time : 4 PM
Please bring your cameraman/photographer.
For further Information contact : Irfan Khan Niazi
Tel: 051-2278282,
Mob: 0333-5687262
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Yasser Al Qahtani becomes Best footballer of Asia
The awards popularize Asia’s footballers around globe : Faisal
Lahore, 28 November : “Winning the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Player of the Year 2007 award will help boost the international profile of whoever emerged from Hordern Pavilion with Asian football’s most prestigious individual accolade,” this is stated by Pakistan Football Federation (PFF)’s President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat during today’s glittering AFC Annual Awards Ceremony at Sydney, the capital of New South Wales and located on Australia’s south-eastern coast.
Saudi Arabia striker Yasser Al Qahtani 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. Under the AFC’s points system for determining who will walk away with the continent’s highest individual accolade for a player, Al Qahtani outscored runner-up and Asian Cup 2007 MVP Younis Mahmoud and his Iraqi counterpart Nashat Akram.
Both Younis and Nashat played key roles throughout Iraq ‘s victorious AFC Asian Cup 2007 campaign and not surprisingly the reigning continental champions were rewarded with the AFC National Team of the Year award.
” 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,’ added by Faisal.
He said : “I think the award will do a lot for Asia as players to popularise Asia’s names in Europe and have European clubs follow Asian players. It’s not just all about the award, it helps these players a lot and throw their name around the world.”
Australian Mark Shield, who officiated in Iraq ‘s 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the Asian Cup 2007 final was named AFC Referee of the Year . The AFC Coach of the Year Award, which is reserved exclusively for Asian nationals, went to Rauf Inileev, after the 57-year-old oversaw an impressive Uzbekistan campaign at the Asian Cup 2007.
After finishing third in 2006 Youth Player of the Year, DPR Korea’s prodigiously talented Under 20s captain Kim Kum-il took the first prize this time around, seeing off the challenge of the Japanese duo of Yasuhito Morishima and Yoichiro Kakitani. There was better news for Japan in the AFC Club Team of the Year category, with reigning J-League champions Urawa Reds taking to coveted accolade after defeating Sepahan of Iran in the final to become the first Japanese side to claim top honours in the AFC Champions League since its introduction in 2003.
Vahid Shamsaee, who scooped his second AFC Futsal Championship MVP award as Iran beat Japan in the 2007 final, was named AFC Futsal Player of the Year, while the Iranians were also named AFC Futsal Team of the Year. Japan’s other prize of the night was the AFC Fair Play Association of the Year, while the AFC Association of the Year award was given to East Asian neighbours China.