After last claiming the award in 2019, Tottenham Hotspur and South Korea captain Son Heung-Min is once again in the running to be crowned the Asian Football Confederation’s male International Player of the Year for 2023.

Son is the award’s record winner with six trophies to his name but, after the accolade was not given out in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, he was dethroned by compatriot Kim Min-Jae last year while missing out on a nomination completely — with Kaoru Mitoma and Mehdi Taremi the others in the running.

Nonetheless, a return to form over the past 12 months — as he stepped up to have even more influence at Tottenham after taking over the captaincy from Harry Kane — sees him back in the running to be named the continent’s best player plying his trade abroad.

Taremi — who embarked on a new adventure with Serie A giants Inter Milan in the summer after spending the last few seasons starring for Porto — is also in the running along with Montpellier‘s Musa Al-Taamari, who rose to prominence at the start of the year with a starring role in Jordan‘s surprise run to the AFC Asian Cup final.

The winner will be announced at the AFC Annual Awards, which will take place in Seoul, South Korea this year on Oct. 29.

Nonetheless, it will not officially be the biggest prize that will be handed out as the AFC reserves that for the Player of the Year and Women’s Player of the Year awards — which is only available to those who have played some form of club football within Asia throughout the eligibility window.

The AFC Player of the Year nominee list is headlined by Akram Afif, who — earlier this year — emulated his exploits from when he last won the award in 2019 by leading Qatar to a second consecutive Asian Cup crown.

Yazan Al-Naimat, another of Jordan’s heroes from the Asian Cup, and South Korea defender Seol Young-Woo — who recently earned a move to Europe with Serbian outfit Red Star Belgrade — are the other two vying for the accolade.

The AFC Women’s Player of the Year will be contested by Japan international Kiko Seike, Australia‘s Cortnee Vine and South Korea veteran and captain Kim Hye-Ri.

Meanwhile, the AFC International Player of the Year (Women) will either be awarded to Ellie Carpenter, who was part of the Lyon side that reached the UEFA Women’s Champions League final back in May, or Manchester City star Yui Hasegawa.

AFC Player of the Year

• Yazan Al-Naimat (Al Ahli/Al Arabi and Jordan)

• Seol Young-Woo (Ulsan HD/Red Star Belgrade and South Korea)

• Akram Afif (Al Sadd and Qatar)

AFC Women’s Player of the Year

• Cortnee Vine (Sydney FC/North Carolina Courage and Australia)

• Kiko Seike (Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies/Brighton & Hove Albion and Japan)

• Kim Hye-Ri (Hyundai Steel Red Angels and South Korea)

AFC Asian International Player of the Year (Men)

• Mehdi Taremi (Porto/Inter Milan and Iran)

• Musa Al-Taamari (Montpellier and Jordan)

• Son Heung-Min (Tottenham Hotspur and South Korea)

AFC Asian International Player of the Year (Women)

AFC Coach of the Year (Men)

AFC Coach of the Year (Women)

AFC Youth Player of the Year (Men)

• Gaku Nawata (Kamimura Gakuen High School and Japan)

• Bae Jun-Ho (Daejon Hana Citizen/Stoke City and South Korea)

• Abbosbek Fayzullaev (CSKA Moscow and Uzbekistan)

AFC Youth Player of the Year (Women)

• Daniela Galic (Melbourne City/Twente and Australia)

• Chae Un-Yong (Wolmido and North Korea)

• Casey Phair (Angel City and South Korea)