Kuala Lumpur:

China national team and Guangzhou Evergrande captain Zheng Zhi won the AFC Player of the Year award at a glittering ceremony on Tuesday depriving Iran’s Javad nekounam who was running as the favorite from the award right from . Zheng Zhi became the first Chinese player to win this accolade since Fan Zhiyi claimed Asian football’s highest individual accolade in 2001.

Team Melli which was also shortlisted for the best Team of Asia , lost to Iraq’s U-20 team while 4 other nominees in 4 different categories did not fare any better losing to their rivals.