I didn’t try to hide my shock and disappointed face when I heard all Japanese and Korean players who were running for AFC player of the year were unable to attend the event. Because it means that these four players would be ineligible for the award. Why is that? Well, AFC has this rule that player must attend the annual awards ceremony to win the trophy. With this rule, a lot of questions arose.
Question 1: Why November 23rd?
Choice of date is the first thing that came to my mind. If you want these players to attend the event, why would you pick a date when they have to participate in club matches? Fixture of Champions League was out long ago and having the ceremony on a match day is just the worst date I can think of. Apart from Honda and Kagawa, Yeom Ki-Hun had a K-League match on the same evening, which I am sure the fixture was also out at least months ago. Koo Ja-Cheol is required at Wolfsburg, probably because the club had already released the player to Asia a week ago to participate in international matches so is less willing to let him go again as they have to prepare for weekend match. It is silly if AFC was hoping the players will choose personal award over club duties. So why didn’t they pick a better day?
Question 2: Why keeping such an unreasonable rule?
I understand how dull the ceremony could be, if the winner of Player of the Year is not at the ceremony. Yet, it is unfair to snatch the trophy from them just because they cannot show their face in the ceremony. People question the creditability of the award for a reason. Can you believe Park Ji Sung, one of the most successful Asian footballer who is playing in Manchester United for so many year, never won this award? The list go on with many famous names in the football world including Javad Nekounam, Honda, Tim Cahill and so on, who has never claimed the award while this year winner Server Djeparov has won it twice.
Djeparov had brought Uzbekistan into semi-final of Asian Cup, the best result ever since the country joined the tournament. He too, had an amazing season with his former club. Yet, even people who have heard of Djeparov, will still think it is ridiculous for him to win over Honda or Kagawa since the two have proven their values not only within Asia but outside of Asia. This is unfair to both side, the players that can attend the dinner and the players that cannot. As the former needs to face questions like “How do you feel about the best Asian players cannot claim the award just because they cannot attend, when this award should be given to best player of Asia?”, and it is unfair to the latter for obvious reasons.
The criticisms that received regarding this rule not only harmed the AFC itself, but the players who have won this award too, as they are all being seen as undeserved while there are better players out there who should have won it. There is no better way to promote Asian football than giving this award to a footballer who has proven his values not just in Asia but Europe as well. The AFC is doing this in an opposite way.
Question 3: Why not send a cameraman to wherever the winner is?
Make full use of the technology! I am sure although the guests cannot see the Player of the Year in person, they will still be happy to see the award presentation via a screen. It will be better if this can shown to the guests in real-time, like gives Park Ji Sung a surprise while he is on his way to training. Wouldn’t that be entertaining? Afraid an early leaks of the winner? Come on, when that shortlist was released, people more or less could guess who will win, no?
You cannot ask a player to forget his responsibility as a professional footballer and left his club just to attend an award dinner, but there are things that AFC can do to help keep the value of this award and the ceremony. Tell me what will be left with the award if it lost its creditability? So do something, AFC.
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