ASIAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR
The Asian Football Confederation has awarded this since 1994. Any Asian player can win the award. A list of finalists is announced before the winner is awarded with the prize in a presentation. The results in 2000 are:
| RANK | NAME | NATIONALITY |
| 1 | Nawaf Al Temyat | Saudi Arabia |
| FINALISTS | Ryuzo Morioka | Japan |
| Lee Dong Gook | Korea Republic | |
| Hiroshi Nanami | Japan |
Al Temyat was the best player for Saudi Arabia in their Asian Cup run which ended in the final to Japan. He also helped Al Hilal win the Asian Super Cup. The other finalists also performed well at the Asian Cup in 2001 with two coming from the winners Japan and the other Lee Dong Gook being the top goalscorer of the tournament. Previous winners of the award are:
| YEAR | NAME | NATIONALITY |
| 1994 | Saeed Al-Owairan | Saudi Arabia |
| 1995 | Masami Ihara | Japan |
| 1996 | Khododad Azizi | Iran |
| 1997 | Hidetoshi Nakata | Japan |
| 1998 | Hidetoshi Nakata | Japan |
| 1999 | Ali Daei | Iran |
Click here to go to the 1999 Asian Player of the Year
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