Son named Asia's international player of the year for 4th time

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia's International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.

Son, who captains both Tottenham and the South Korea national team, also won the prize in 2015, 2017 and 2019 and takes the trophy from compatriot Kim Min-jae of Bayern Munich.

Australia's Ellie Carpenter, who plays for French club Lyon, became the inaugural winner of the women's international award.

The AFC has a separate prize for players based overseas and awarded its main player of the year awards to Akram Afif of Qatar and Japan's Kiko Seike.

Afif led Qatar to the Asian Cup title in February and finished the tournament as top scorer with eight goals. He also won the AFC award in 2019.

"I will try my best to win this award for a third time," he said.

Seike took the women's prize after helping the Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies win a second straight Japanese league title, setting a record for goals scored in one season. She signed for Brighton in England in July.

"I will continue to do my best for my club, the national team and to raise the value of Asian football," Seike said in a video message.