Tags
Reuters/New Delhi
Emirati Ahmed Khalil got a modicum of revenge on Guangzhou Evergrande captain Zheng Zhi when he pipped the Chinese to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Player of the Year award on Sunday.
Khalil's Al Ahli club finished runners-up in the AFC Champions League as Zheng guided Guangzhou to their second continental title in three years.
But the 24-year-old Khalil won the individual battle in a glittering ceremony on the outskirts of the Indian capital, denying 2013 winner Zheng a second AFC Player of the Year award and also beating compatriot Omar Abdulrahman to emerge as the continent's top player.
"I cannot explain my feeling," Khalil told reporters. "It means a lot to me. It's not for me only, it's for all the people of the Emirates."
Khalil became only the third player to have won both the senior and youth individual accolades and the forward said he would like to play in Europe at some point.
"I have goals that I have set for the future and I will try my best to achieve them. I have ambitions to play in Europe but presently I have a contract with my current club."
Guangzhou won the AFC Club of the Year award, while their Brazilian recruit and AFC Champions League top scorer Ricardo Goulart won the AFC Foreign Player of the Year award.
Asian Cup champions Australia won the men's team of the year award, while Japan claimed the women's team honour. Ange Postecoglou won the top coach's honour for masterminding Australia's home triumph.
"What a year it has been - with the (viewership) record broken on the opening days of January in Australia, right up to the last few days in Guangzhou," said AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who has entered the FIFA presidency race.
"For a long time, people talked of the future being Asia and they are now convinced that the present is Asia. I'm certain that we stand on the very brink of greatness in this continent - the dawning of an Asian age."
There are no comments.
SPORT Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when you are saying farewell to those that have left a positive impression. That was the case earlier this month when Canada hosted Mexico in a friendly at BC Place stadium in Vancouver.
TECHNOLOGY Some 60mn primary-school-age children have no access to formal education
CULTURE Lekhwiya’s El Arabi scores the equaliser after Tresor is sent off; Tabata, al-Harazi score for QSL champions
ARABIA The Yemeni Minister of Tourism, Dr Mohamed Abdul Majid Qubati, yesterday expressed hope that the 48-hour ceasefire in Yemen declared by the Command of Coalition Forces on Saturday will be maintained in order to lift the siege imposed on Taz City and ease the entry of humanitarian aid to the besieged
ARABIA Some 200 teachers from schools across the country attended Qatar Museum’s (QM) first ever Teachers Council at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) yesterday.
ARABIA The Supreme Judiciary Council (SJC) of Qatar and the Indonesian Supreme Court (SCI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on judicial co-operation, it was announced yesterday.
ECONOMY Sri Lanka is keen on importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar as part of government policy to shift to clean energy, Minister of City Planning and Water Supply Rauff Hakeem has said.
