Iran's Ali KARIMI was awarded the AFC's Player of the Year award on THU 09 DEC 2004, becoming the fourth Iranian to win the honour since its inauguration ten years ago. Karimi's accomplishments include a hat trick in a 4-3 win over Korea Rep in the Asian Cup quarterfinals and a league leading 14 goals for his club, Al Ahli of the United Arab Emirates. A'ala HUBAIL of Bahrain and Shunsuke NAKAMURA of Japan were the other finalists. Awards also given include PARK Chu Young of Korea Rep as best youth player, Japan as the team of the year, and Iraq's Adnan HAMD as best coach.