The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has snubbed Manchester United's Park Ji-sung for its 2005 Asian Player of the Year Awards because the South Korean is unable to attend the awards ceremony in Kuala Lumpur on November 30.
The AFC said yesterday that Saudi pair Sami Al Jaber, of Al Hilal, and Al Ittihad's Hamad Al Montashari, along with Uzbekistan's Maksim Shatskikh, who plays for Ukraine's Dynamo Kiev, have been picked as the three finalists from a list of 10 nominees.
The governing body confirmed that players who were unable to travel to Kuala Lumpur would not be considered for the top prize. Two weeks ago, goal.com quoted an AFC spokesperson as saying: 'The main criteria is that the recipient must be present in Kuala Lumpur. If he's not present, then he forfeits the award. And we will award it to the next player on the list.'
The AFC's policy affects five of the six European-based players who made the shortlist, with only Shatskikh able to attend.
Bolton Wanderers' Japanese international Hidetoshi Nakata, Bayern Munich's reigning player of the year Ali Karimi, of Iran, Tottenham's Lee Young-pyo, of South Korea, and Celtic's Japanese player Shunsuke Nakamura were all ignored by the AFC.
Completing the list of 10 were Iran's Javad Nekounam, of Pas, and Saudi goalkeeper Zaid Mabrouk, of Asian champions Al Ittihad.
