The Asian Football Confederation has announced the nominees for both the 2015 AFC Player of the Year and the 2015 AFC Women's Player of the Year awards. With the clock ticking down to the November 29 AFC Annual Awards extravaganza in New Delhi, China's Zheng Zhi along with the UAE duo of Ahmed Khalil and Omar Abdulrahman have been named as the three nominees for the highly prized AFC Player of the Year award. In addition, Australian ace Elise Kellond-Knight as well Japan's Aya Miyama and Rumi Utsugi find themselves in contention for the equally coveted AFC Women's Player of the Year Award. THE MEN'S NOMINEES (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) Ahmed Khalil (UAE) AFC Young Player of the Year and AFC U-19 Championship MVP in 2008, Ahmed Khalil has helped UAE club Al Ahli reach the final of this year's AFC Champions League where they will take on Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande in the title decider this Saturday. He scored the fastest goal in AFC Asian Cup history by netting only 14 seconds after kick-off against Bahrain at Australia 2015 where he was instrumental in the UAE clinching third place. The 24-year-old forward is also currently the second leading goalscorer (10 goals) in the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2018/AFC Asian Cup 2019 Joint Preliminary Round 2 qualifiers. Omar Abdulrahman (UAE) Considered by many observers one of the best talents in Asian football, 24-year-old Omar Abdulrahman has scored many crucial goals for the UAE national team and club Al Ain in this year's AFC Asian Cup, AFC Champions League and the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2018/AFC Asian Cup 2019 joint-qualifiers. He notably led the UAE to a third-place finish in the AFC Asian Cup 2015. A constant provider, the Riyadh-born midfielder scored a crucial goal against Iran's Naft Tehran to take his club to the Round of 16 of the current edition of the AFC Champions League. Zheng Zhi (China) The 35-year-old Zheng Zhi was 2013 AFC Player of the Year as well as Chinese Football Player of the Year in 2002 and 2006. The Liaoning-born midfielder captained Guangzhou Evergrande during their 2013 AFC Champions League title winning run and scored the crucial goal in this year's semi-final against Japan's Gamba Osaka to take the Chinese giants to the final which will conclude this Saturday. He has led Guangzhou to five straight Chinese Super League titles and was captain when the Chinese national team reached the quarter-finals of January's AFC Asian Cup 2015. Meanwhile three stars of the women's games are vying to succeed Australia's Katrina Lee Gorry who bagged the award last year in Manila. THE WOMEN'S NOMINEES (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) Aya Miyama (Japan) Two-time (2011, 2012) AFC Women's Player of the Year Aya Miyama has been captain of the Japan national women's team since 2012, the year she helped the Nadeshiko claim silver at the London Olympics. Having appeared at every FIFA Women's World Cup since 2003, the 30-year-old played an important role in Japan's 2011 title winning campaign and also won the Bronze Ball award at this year's edition in Canada where the Japanese emerged as runners-up to the USA. The Okayama Yunogo Belle midfielder helped Japan claim their first AFC Women's Asian Cup title in Vietnam last year and was the tournament's MVP. Elise Kellond-Knight (Australia) FFC Turbine Potsdam's defensive midfielder Elise Kellond-Knight of Australia was W-League Young Player of the Year in 2009 and also the 2011 FFA Female Footballer of the Year. The 25-year-old, who started her club career with hometown outfit Brisbane Roar in 2008, has 64 caps for the Australia national team and scored a crucial goal in the Matildas' 2-1 win over Korea Republic in the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup semi-final before they finished runners-up to eventual champions Japan. Kellond-Knight was also chosen to be on the FIFA Women's World Cup All-Star Teams in 2011 and 2015, the year she helped Australia reach the quarter-finals. Rumi Utsugi (Japan) Japan's Rumi Utsugi has been playing her club football for Montpellier, a French women's top-flight outfit, since 2010 where she has scored 20 times from 111 appearances. The 26-year-old defensive midfielder was in the Nadeshiko squads at both the 2007 and 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. She also appeared in the 2010 and 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cups, with Japan winning the latter to claim their first Asian Cup title. Utsugi also helped Japan win the inaugural edition of the AFC U-17 Women's Championship in Korea Republic in 2005.
