Best Footballer in Asia

Son Heung-min was conferred the trophy by Sun Jihai, the representative of Titan Sports

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 which 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.

Elkeson won the second-place in the inaugural Best Footballer in Asia

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 have appearances in 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, won Best Footballer in Asia twice in a row).

• 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. The Brazilian striker, Elkeson, won the second place of the inaugural Best Footballer in Asia)

Trophy of 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.

Rules

Each juror selects 5 best footballers and awards them 5, 4, 3, 2 points and 1 point respectively from their first choice to the fifth choice. The trophy of the Best Footballer in Asia is awarded to the player with the highest total of points.

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, an additional round of vote will be held to select the winner.

Winners

Year	Rank	Player	Club	Points	% Points Obtained
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	Tottenham Hotspur	49	16.3
	2nd	Zheng Zhi[note 2]	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

Notes

References