Newly crowned AFC Champions Leagues winners Gamba Osaka, of Japan, are up for AFC Club Team of the Year, along with finalists Adelaide United, of Australia, Uzbekistan’s Kuruvchi/Bunyodkor and Japanese outfit Urawa Red Diamonds.

Vying for AFC Player of the Year Award honours are Uzbekistan’s Server Djeparov, Yasuhito Endo and Yuji Nakazawa of Japan, Sebastian Soria of Qatar and the UAE’s Ismail Matar.

Gamba coach Akira Nishino will be battling it out with Adelaide’s Aurelio Vidmar and Shans Hossein, of Iran’s futsal team, for the AFC Coach of the Year title.

Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia - countries in the running for qualification to the FIFA World Cup 2010 - are in the mix for AFC National Team of the Year while AFC Association of the Year award involves the governing bodies of Iran, Japan and Uzbekistan.

Five men in black have been nominated for AFC Referee of the Year - Matthew Breeze (Australia), Yuichi Nishimura (Japan), Mohd Salleh Subkhiddin (Malaysia), Ali Hamad Al Badwawi (UAE) and Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan). This list will be whittled down to the final three on November 20.

Other categories are: AFC Youth Player of the Year, AFC Fair Play Association of the Year, AFC Match Commissioner of the Year, AFC Assistant Referee of the Year, AFC Futsal Player of the Year and AFC Futsal Team of the Year.

The winners will be announced at the gala AFC Awards Night in Shanghai, China, on 25 November.

AFC ANNUAL AWARDS 2008

COMPLETE LIST OF NOMINEES

AFC Diamond of Asia
Winner to be announced on 25 November.

AFC Association of the Year

a) IR Iran Football Federation
b) Japan Football Association
c) Uzbekistan Football Federation

AFC Fair Play Association of the Year

a) Japan Football Association
b) Uzbekistan Football Federation
c) IR Iran Football Federation

AFC Match Commissioner of the Year

a) Kamarudin Sakhari (Malaysia)
b) Mohamed Muzammil Bin Mohamed (Singapore)
c) Sunil Senaweera (Sri Lanka)

AFC Referee of the Year

a) Matthew Breeze (Australia)
b) Yuichi Nishimura (Japan)
c) Mohd Salleh Subkhiddin (Malaysia)
d) Ali Hamad Al Badwawi (UAE)
e) Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

NOTE: Three finalists to be announced on 20 November.

AFC Assistant Referee of the Year

a) Luay Subhi (Iraq)
b) Mohamed Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia)
c) Bahadyr Kochkarov (Kyrgyzstan)
d) Tammam Hamdoun (Syria)
e) Abdukhamidullo Rasulov (Uzbekistan)

NOTE: Three finalists to be announced on 20 November.

AFC Coach of the Year

a) Aurelio Vidmar (Australia - coach of Adelaide United)
b) Akira Nishino (Japan - coach of Gamba Osaka)
c) Hossein Shams (Iran - coach of Iran futsal team)

AFC Futsal Team of the Year

a) IR Iran
b) Japan
c) Thailand

AFC Club Team of the Year

a) Kuruvchi/Bunyodkor (Uzbekistan)
b) Adelaide United (Australia)
c) Gamba Osaka (Japan)
d) Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan)

AFC National Team of the Year

a) Australia
b) Japan
c) Saudi Arabia

AFC Youth Player of the Year

a) Lee Jong-ho (Korea Republic)

NOTE: TWO MORE NOMINEES WILL BE SELECTED AFTER THE AFC U-19 CHAMPIONSHIP WHICH IS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY IN SAUDI ARABIA.

AFC Futsal Player of the Year

a) Mostafa Nazari (Iran)
b) Daisuke Ono (Japan)
c) Vahid Shamsaee (Iran)

AFC Player of the Year

a) Sebastian Soria (Qatar and Qatar SC - Qatar )
b) Ismael Matar (UAE and Al Wahda - UAE)
c) Server Djeparov (Uzbekistan and Kuruvchi/Bunyodkor - Uzbekistan)
d) Yuji Nakazawa (Japan and Yokohama F Marinos - Japan)
e) Yasuhito Endo (Japan and Gamba Osaka - Japan)