Uzbekistan's Server Djeparov crowned the AFC football player of the year

Server Djeparov won the most important football award in Asia for the second time during the Asian Football Confederation Awards ceremony 2011 held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Wednesday was another glittering night for Kuala Lumpur in which the AFC annual awards ceremony was held with the FIFA President Sepp Blatter attending as guest of honour.
Japanese Football Federation continued the superb progress it has shown in recent years, grabbing nine awards reflecting its growing power.
"I would like to appreciate the help of all the Asian countries after the recent tsunami in Japan. It was a great year for us because in 2011 we won the Asian Cup and also the Women's World Cup" said Junji Ogura, the President of Japan Football Federation.
Six football players ended up in the final shortlist of AFC to receive the Asian Player of the Year award and finally it was Server Djeparov who scooped the AFC title once again, previously receiving the award at the AFC gala of 2008.
Hadi Aghili (Al-Arabi, Iran) Shinji Kagawa( Borussia Dortmund, Japan) Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow, Japan), Koo Ja-Cheol( Wolfsburg, South Korea) and Yeom Ki-Hun( Samsung Bluewings, South Korea) have also made it to the shortlist, but the Uzbek player,29, received the award for his inspirational role in his side's rise to the last four in the Asian Cup 2011.
The AFC award is only given to the players that are attending the ceremony, this was the reason to rule out the four Japanese and Korean players as they were away due to the clubs’ commitments at the time of the the ceremony.
"This is the second time I receive this honour. It's a great pleasure for me. This is very important for me and also very important for the Uzbekistan people" the Asian Player of the Year said.
"The award ceremony takes place only once a year. It is not only important for players themselves, but for the entire AFC. We need to make sacrifices. Anyone who wants to win the award, they are supposed to be present at the ceremony," Djeparov said Tuesday in a press conference

-Full list of awards:
Player of the Year - Men: Server Djeparov (Uzbekistan)
Player of the Year - Women: Aya Miyama (Japan)
Youth Player of the Year - Men: Hideki Ishige (Japan)
Youth Player of the Year - Women: Caitlin Foord (Australia)
Club of the Year - Al Sadd (Qatar)
National Team of the Year - Men: Japan
National Team of the Year - Women: Japan
Referee of the Year - Men: RavshanIrmatov (Uzbekistan)
Referee of the Year - Women: Sachiko Yamagishi (Japan)
Assistant Referee of the Year - Men: RasulovAbdukhamidullov (Uzbekistan)
Assistant Referee of the Year - Women: Sarah Ho (Australia)
Coach of the Year – Men: Norio Sasaki (Japan)
Coach of the Year – Women: TakakoTezuka (Japan)
Futsal Player of the Year: Mohammad Keshavarz (Iran)
Futsal Team of the Year: Nagoya Oceans (Japan)
Fair Play Award: Korea Republic
Member Association of the Year: Japan