The 27-year-old became the first Qatari to win the award twice as he collected the gleaming trophy at the 28th edition of the ceremony, which was staged at the Grand Peace Palace of the Kyung Hee University in Seoul.
Having won his first AFC Player of the Year nomination in 2019, Afif made it two for two to become only the third player to win the award more than once after Japan’s Hidetoshi Nakata (1997, 1998) and Uzbekistan’s Server Djeparov (2008, 2011). He is the third Al Sadd SC player to win, with the other two previous Qatari winners, Khalfan Ibrahim (2006) and Abdelkarim Hassan (2018), also hailing from the same club.
The mercurial attacker, who had played a prominent role in Qatar’s first ever AFC Asian Cup™ success in 2019 by bagging 10 assists, took centre-stage when they retained Asia’s crown jewel earlier this year.
Afif revelled in the occasion on home soil by scoring eight goals and making three assists, memorably becoming the first player in tournament history to score a hat-trick in the Final, to ensure that his side lifted back-to-back titles in glorious fashion. He bagged the Most Valuable Player and the Yili Top Scorer awards – the fourth player to ever claim both in the same edition.
The stellar season continued for Afif, who recorded two goals and five assists to help Qatar progress to the third round of the AFC Asian Qualifiers™ and stay on track for a second FIFA World Cup appearance.
Silverware followed at club level as well with Al Sadd, where Afif has been a key figure since joining in 2018 off the back of stints in Belgium with Eupen and Spain with Villarreal and Sporting Gijon – becoming the first Qatari to play in La Liga with the latter.
The Aspire Academy graduate claimed the Best Player of the Qatar Stars League for a fourth occasion after helping Al Sadd to a record 17th title with 26 goals and 11 assists in 22 games, and added the Amir Cup to complete a domestic double and cap a hugely successful campaign.
No other player has picked up the coveted prize more than once apart from Son, who also received the accolade in 2015, 2017 and 2019, which highlights his remarkable longevity at the top.
Pulling off another stellar season in 2023/24, the 32-year-old turned in one of the most iconic performances in AFC Asian Cup™ history at the Quarter-final stage of Qatar 2023. With the Taeguk Warriors 1-0 down against Australia and on the verge of elimination, he earned a penalty that was put away by Hwang Hee-chan to send the tie into extra time – where Son then curled in a magnificent free-kick worthy of winning any game to send them to the final four.
Widely regarded as one of the finest players to hail from Asia, the Korea Republic captain also scored in each of their four AFC Asian Qualifiers™ in 2023/24 to help seal progress to the third round, as the East Asians eye a 12th appearance at the FIFA World Cup in 2026.
Synonymous with Tottenham Hotspur, for whom he has made over 400 appearances since joining the English side in 2015, Son was made their new captain prior to the start of the 2023/24 season and it is a role he has relished.
The forward became the sixth player to reach the 150-goal mark for the club last September and scored his 200th goal across all European competitions a month later, before establishing himself as Spurs’ all-time Premier League assist leader in December and finishing the campaign with 17 goals and 10 assists from 36 matches.
