Riyadh – Salem Al-Dawsari, the captain of Al-Hilal and the Saudi Arabian national football team, was named the AFC Player of the Year for 2025 on Thursday, marking the second time he has won the prestigious award. The announcement was made during the annual Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ceremony held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Al-Dawsari triumphed over competitors Akram Afif of Qatar (Al-Sadd) and Arif Aiman of Malaysia (Johor Darul Ta’zim). This victory makes him the first Saudi player to secure the award twice, and only the fourth in the continent’s history to claim the title on two occasions. He joins an elite group including Japan’s Hidetoshi Nakata (1997, 1998), Uzbekistan’s Server Djeparov (2008, 2011), and Qatar’s Akram Afif (2019, 2023). The 34-year-old Al-Dawsari, who was instrumental in his national team’s qualification for the 2026 World Cup last week—the seventh in Saudi history—previously won the award in 2022.
Amidst cheers and applause, Al-Dawsari stated, “This achievement is not the end of the road, but the beginning of greater ambitions. On this occasion, I congratulate everyone on the Saudi national team’s qualification for the World Cup.” Speaking to the press after his win, Al-Dawsari expressed his pride: “Praise be to God for winning the award, and I am proud to have received it for the second time. God willing, it will not be the last, and the third and fourth are coming, God willing.”
