Japan and Brighton attacker Kiko Seike was named the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Player of the Year on Tuesday, while Japan U-23 manager Go Oiwa won the men’s Coach of the Year award in Seoul.

Seike, the award’s fifth recipient from Japan, was the top scorer in the WE League during the 2023-24 season with 20 goals and was also named the season’s MVP after guiding Urawa Reds Ladies to back-to-back championships.

The 28-year-old represented Japan at the Paris Olympics before she marked her English Women’s Super League debut with Brighton on Sept. 21 with a hat-trick against Everton.

Oiwa, meanwhile, got his award after leading Japan to the U-23 Asian Cup triumph in May before reaching the quarterfinals at the Olympics.

Japan, who were the only team without an overage player in Paris, beat Paraguay, Mali and Israel in the group stage before losing to eventual gold medalists Spain in the last eight.

Japan U-23 manager Go Oiwa gives instructions during the Paris Olympics quarterfinals against Spain at Lyon Stadium in Lyon, France, on Aug. 2, 2024. (Kyodo)

The 52-year-old Oiwa received the award for the second time after winning the Asian Champions League as Kashima Antlers manager in 2018.

Qatar attacker Akram Afif won the AFC Player of the Year, his second after his first in 2019, after helping his country defend the Asian Cup trophy in February.

He becomes only the third player to win the award twice after Japan’s Hidetoshi Nakata (1997, 1998) and Uzbekistan’s Server Djeparov (2008, 2011).

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