Canberra Ref Ben Wilson in line for AFC award

And the list for AFC player of the year is also out, and not an Aussie in sight.

My money is on Iraq's Younis Mahmoud...Full AFC release below.


AFC announces shor! t list of seven for AFC Player of the Year



KUALA LUMPUR: AFC announced today the updated list of seven candidates for the prestigious AFC Player of the Year 2007 award to be presented at the AFC Annual Awards ceremony at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on November 28, 2007.



Iraq's AFC Asian Cup 2007T winning captain Younis Mahmoud, Saudi Arabia striker Yasser Al Qahtani, Japan's Yasuhito Endo and Urawa Reds midfielder Shinji Ono retained their places in the updated list of nominees generated after the AFC Champions League first leg final on November 7 in Isfahan.



Javad Nekounam (Iran), Nashat Akram (Iraq), Mohamad Salehi Mehdi (Sepahan and Iran) are the other contenders in the fray for the prestigious honour.



Three Japanese players - Yasuhito Morishima, Tsukasa Umesaki and Yoichiro Kakitani - are among the four candidates for AFC Youth Player of the Year alongside DPR Korea's Kim Kum-il.



Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Korea Republic are in contention for AFC National Team of the Year while AFC Champions League finalists Urawa Reds (Japan) and Sepahan (Iran), Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma (Korea Republic) and Al Wahda (UAE! ) are in contention for AFC Club Team of the Year.



Japan's Kenichiro Kogure, who won the AFC Futsal Player of the Year award last year, is once again in the list with Vahid Shamsaee, Kazem Mohamadi, Mohamadreza Heidarian (all Iran) and Abdulla Buriev (Uzbekistan).



Iran, who won the AFC Futsal Championship for the eighth time this year, have been nominated with Japan and Uzbekistan for AFC Futsal Team of the Year.



China, Japan and Vietnam have been nominated for AFC National Association of the Year while 10 countries - Australia, Iraq, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Korea Republic, Lebanon, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam are vying for AFC Fair Play Association of the Year accolade.



Amir Ghalenoiee (former coach of Iran), Hak Bum Kim (Seonganam Ilhwa

Chunma) and Rauf Inileev (Uzbekistan national team) have been nominated for AFC Coach of the Year.



AFC also announced the list of 10 nominees each for AFC Referee of the Year and AFC Assistant Referee of the Year awards.



Mark Shield, Matthew Breeze (both Australia), Yuichi Nishimura (Japan),

Kwon Jong Chul (Korea Republic), Khalil Ibrahim Al Ghamdi, Ali A. Al Mutlaq (both Saudi Arabia), Saad Kameel Al Fadhli (Kuwait), Mohd Saleh Subkhiddin (Malaysia), Abdou Abdulrahman (Qatar) and Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan) are in fray for AFC Referee of the Year award, while Benjamin Wilson, Matthew Cream (both Australia), Khaled Rashed Salem Al Allan (Bahrain), Poon Ming Fai (Hong Kong), Kadom Arab Mohamad (Iraq), Toru Sagara (Japan), Jeong Hae Sang (Korea Republic), Mohammed Al Ghamdi (Saudi Arabia), Nasser Bahrooz Ahmad and Saleh Mohamed Abdulla Hassan Al Marzouqi (both UAE) are in contention for AFC Assistant Referee of the Year award.





AFC Player of the Year nominees (in alphabetical order; as of November 10, 2007)



1. AKRAM Nashat (Iraq)

2. AL QAHTANI Yasser (Saudi Arabia)

3. ENDO Yasuhito (Japan)

4. MAHMOUD Younis (Iraq)

5. MEHDI Salehi Mohamad (IR Iran)

6. NEKOUNAM Javad (IR Iran)

7. ONO Shinji (Japan)