Tribune News Network
Doha
Al Sadd star Akram Afif won the Best Player Award, while Pedro Martins of Al Gharafa was adjudged Best Coach at the Qatar Football Association (QFA) Awards ceremony, which was held at the Qatar National Convention Centre on Sunday.
The Awards Ceremony for 2023-2024 season was held in the presence of His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, Minister of Sports and Youth, and His Excellency Jassim bin Rashid Al Boenain, President of QFA and Qatar Stars League, a number of club presidents, guests, sports personalities, representatives of club companies, technical and administrative staff, coaches, players and others.
Afif, who continued his distinguished performance with his team, received the highest percentage of votes, warding off Algerian star Yacine Brahimi of Al Gharafa and Brazilian star Roger Guedes of Al Rayyan.
“It is a great honour for me to win this award but it wasn’t possible without the help of my teammates and I am thankful to them for their support,” Afif said.
Afif also won the Mansour Muftah Award for top scorer by scoring 26 goals in the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League.
Martins, who got the highest percentage of votes ahead of Al Sadd’s Wesam Rizk and Al Rayyan’s Leonardo Jardim.
The Best Under-23 Player Award was bagged by Al Arabi’s Jassim Jaber.
The ceremony also witnessed the honoring of the Qatar national team by a number of companies and supporters, such as QIIB, Qatar Airways, Ooredoo and Qatar National Bank, for its distinguished achievement of winning the 2023 edition of AFC Asian Cup, for the second time in a row. A number of players representing the team participated in the honoring ceremony, such as Almoez Ali, Meshaal Barshim, Abdulaziz Hatem and Mohamed Waad.
The Order of Achievement (highest honours) was awarded to HE Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani, Minister of Sports and Youth and the late national coach Saeed al-Misnad for
Achieving great and distinguished successes for Qatar football over the past years.
Qatar national team fan group Mudaraj Al Anabi won the Football For All Award for its exemplary great role in supporting and encouraging the national team in the season.
Salman Falahi was adjuedged the Best Referee, while Taleb Salem received the Best First Assistant Referee and Saoud Ahmed got the Best Second Assistant Referee award. Khamis al-Marri received the Best Video Assistant Referee (VAR) award.
