Qatar national team and Al Sadd star Akram Afif was crowned the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Player of the Year 2023, for the second time in history having won the coveted award in 2019, at the annual awards ceremony held in South Korean capital Seoul on Tuesday, October 29, 2024.

Akram is the third Qatari to win the AFC Player of the Year award, after Khalfan Ibrahim in 2006 and Abdelkarim Hassan in 2018.

Akram competed for the award along with other nominees – Jordanian Yazan Al Naimat of Qatar’s Al Arabi and South Korean Seol Young-Woo of Serbian side Red Star Belgrade.

Akram continued his remarkable brilliance with Al Sadd and the national team as he has had a number of achievements in the 2023-2024 season, confirming his great value and name in golden letters in the history of football, be it on the domestic or Asian scene.

He played a key role in Al Sadd’s triumph in the 2023-2024 season league championship, The Wolves’ record-extending 17th success in the tournament, and also in Amir Cup achievement.

Akram spearheaded last year Qatar’s stunning defence of the AFC Asian Cup, which Al Annabi had won in the UAE in 2019.

He was also the top scorer at AFC Asian Cup 2023 with eight goals and also provided three assists, thereby contributing to 11 of the 14 goals scored by Qatar in the tournament.

It may be noted that Akram was adjudged the Best Player at the Qatar Football Association Awards in four seasons – 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2021-2022 and 2023-2024. He had also won the Mansour Muftah Top Scorer Award with 26 goals and 11 assists, thus contributing to Al Sadd’s 37 of the total 65 goals in the 2023-2024 season.