AFC Player of the Year: It is down to 15 nominees





KUALA LUMPUR: Iraq's AFC Asian Cup 2007 winning captain Younis Mahmoud, Saudi Arabian striker Yasser Al Qahtani, Japan's Yasuhito Endo and Korea Republic goalkeeper Lee Won Jae have retained their places in the latest updated list of nominees for the AFC Player of the Year award 2007.

The prestigious accolade shall be presented at AFC Annual Awards ceremony will be held on November 28, 2007, at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney.

The updated list of 15 nominees, generated after the AFC Champions League semi-finals and Match Day 4 of the AFC Final Round for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, provides the very latest information on the standing of players vying for this coveted award.

Endo and his compatriots Kengo Nakamura and Shinji Ono, Iranian stalwart Javad Nekounam, Iraq's Nashat Akram and Kuwait's Bader Al Mutawa, who finished first runner-up to Qatar's Khalfan Ibrahim in last year's awards in Abu Dhabi, are also on the updated list.

AFC Player of the Year nominees (in alphabetical order; as of October 26, 2007)

1. AKRAM Nashat (Iraq)

2. AL JENAIBI Abdul (UAE)

3. AL MUTAWA Bader (Kuwait)

4. AL NOOBI Bait (Oman)

5. AL QAHTANI Yasser (Saudi Arabia)

6. DODD Travis (Australia)

7. ENDO Yasuhito (Japan)

8. HAYDAROV Azizbek (Uzbekistan)

9. LEE Won Jae (Korea Republic)

10. MAHMOUD Younis (Iraq)

11. MEHDI Salehi Mohamad (Iran)

12. NAKAMURA Kengo (Japan)

13. NEKOUNAM Javad (Iran)

14. ONO Shinji (Japan)

15. WINOTHAI Teeratep (Thailand)