The 2017 Best Footballer in Asia, given to the best football player in Asia as judged by a panel of 42 sports journalists, was awarded to Son Heung-min on 5 January 2018. Son thus became the first footballer who had won the award for three times.
Voting In this edition of Best Footballer in Asia, 42 jurors were invited to vote. Among the 42 jurors, 36 of them represent different AFC nations/regions including Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Korea Republic, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Macao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United Arabic Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Yemen. Six other jurors were invited representing well-known football media outlets or as independent Asian football experts.
Rules Each juror selects 5 best footballers and awards them 6, 4, 3, 2 points and 1 point respectively from their first choice to the fifth choice. The trophy of the Best Footballer in Asia is awarded to the player with the highest total of points.
Tiebreakers When two or more candidates obtain the same points, the rankings of the concerned candidates would be based upon the following criteria in order.
a) The number of the 1st-place vote obtained b) The number of the 2nd-place vote obtained c) The number of the 3rd-place vote obtained d) The number of the 4th-place vote obtained
If all conditions are equal, the concerned candidates will be tied in rankings.
If the concerned candidates are tied in the first-place, the concerned candidates will share the award and the trophy.
Ranking RankNameClub(s)Points 1 Son Heung-min Tottenham Hotspur 157 2 Omar Kharbin Al-Hilal 127 3 Rafael Silva Urawa Red Diamonds 57 4 Sardar Azmoun Rostov Rubin Kazan 51 5 Paulinho Guangzhou Evergrande Barcelona 44 6 Aaron Mooy Huddersfield Town 33 7 Omar Abdulrahman Al-Ain 31 8 Omar Al Somah Al-Ahli 25 9 Yuki Abe Urawa Red Diamonds 23 10 Wu Lei Shanghai SIPG 19 11 Reza Ghoochannejhad Heerenveen 16 12 Mehdi Taremi Persepolis 13 13 Carlos Eduardo Al-Hilal 11 14 Shusaku Nishikawa Urawa Red Diamonds 10 15 Alireza Jahanbakhsh AZ 6 16 Chanathip Songkrasin Muangthong United Consadole Sapporo 6 17 Yuto Nagatomo Inter Milan 6 18 Nawaf Al-Abed Al-Hilal 6 19 Tomi Juric Luzern 5 20 Tomoaki Makino Urawa Red Diamonds 5 21 Kengo Nakamura Kawasaki Frontale 4 22 Manuchekhr Dzhalilov Istiklol 4 23 Maya Yoshida Southampton 4 24 Kosuke Nakamura Kashiwa Reysol 325 Sunil Chhetri Bengaluru 2 Matthew Leckie Hertha BSC27 Yasser Al-Shahrani Al-Hilal 1 Osama Hawsawi Al-Hilal
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