Perspolis and Iran’s Ali Karimi, the 2004 player of the year, and his club teammate Mohsen Bengar are also among those nominated for the 2012 Asian player of the year award according to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Asian football’s governing body statement included the names of the Korean Ulsan Hyundai’s Lee Keun-Ho and four others who will vie for the Asian player of the year award.

The other two are defenders Lucas Neill of Australia and Chinese Zheng Zhi.

Ali Karimi who won the award in 2004 after his splendid performance in Asian Cup 2004 held in China, has been suffering a turbulent season with suspensions and injury. Ex-Sepahan defender , Mohsen Benger  (33 years old) who won his last of the total of 9 caps , 20 months agao in January 2011 , has also been going through a rough patch in his new team Perspolis. The Tehrani club , is having its worst season ever in its illustrious history. With over 12 rounds , Perspolis is still in the lower end of the Persian Gulf League table.

Lee Keun-Ho , a winger for South Korea’s national team, helped Ulsan Hyundai win the AFC Champions League for the first time this year.

The women’s player of the year award will go to a Japanese, with all three nominees coming from the national team which won silver in the London Olympics earlier this year.

They are captain Homare Sawa, last year’s winner Aya Miyama and Nadeshiko striker Yuki Ogimi. Sawa won the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year award last year.

For Asian international player of the year nominations went to Fulham’s goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer of Australia, Manchester United’s Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa and Inter Milan’s defender Yuto Nagatomo, also from Japan.

For the AFC foreign player of the year award, three Brazilians have been short-listed.

They are ex-Sepahan’s striker Bruno Correa who plays for the UAE side , Al Nasr of Dubai; 2012 ACL top scorer Ricardo Oliveira who plays for Al Jazira; and Rogerio de Assis Silva Coutinho, a midfielder for the 2012 AFC Cup champions Kuwait SC.
The awards will be presented on Nov. 29 in Kuala Lumpur.

Last year Uzbekistan’s midfield maestro Server Djeparov won Asian player of the year.