09 December 2004	Thursday	26 Shawwal 1425

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 8: Iran's Ali Karimi was named Asian player of the year on Wednesday, edging out Bahrain's A'ala Hubail and Shunsuke Nakamura of Japan.

It was the fourth time a player from Iran has won the award since it was introduced by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 1994.

Karimi, who plays for United Arab Emirates club Al Ahli, helped Iran finish third at this year's Asian Cup and was the tournament's joint top scorer with five goals. Previous Iranian winners were Khodadad Azizi in 1996, Ali Daei in 1999 and Mehdi Mahdavikia, who won last year.

Adnan Hamd was named coach of the year after guiding Iraq to the Asian Cup quarter-finals as well as the last four of the Athens Olympics.

Japan were honoured as the continent's top national team after retaining the Asian Cup and Saudi Arabia's Al Ittihad were named as the top club team after capturing the Asian Champions League title earlier this month. -Reuters