Doha: The Board of Trustees for the Qatar Football Association (QFA) Awards has announced the final list of nominees for the best awards for the 2024-2025 season. The categories include Best Player, Best Coach, Best Player Under 23, and for the first time, Best Goalkeeper. This announcement follows the completion of the voting process, form sorting, and subsequent approval by the board.
According to Qatar News Agency, the nominees for the Best Player award are Akram Afif from Al Sadd, Baghdad Bounedjah from Al Shamal, and Julian Draxler from Al Ahli. The candidates vying for the Best Coach award include Felix Sanchez of Al Sadd, the league champions, Pedro Martins from Al Gharafa who secured third place in the league and was last year's winner, and Igor Biscan from Al Ahli who led his team to fourth place.
The Best Goalkeeper category features Mishaal Barshim from Al Sadd, Salah Zakaria from Al Duhail, and Marwan Sharif from Al Ahli. In the Best Player Under 23 category, Abdullah Youssef from Al Gharafa, Mohamed Manaai from Al Shamal, and Moaz Al Wadi from Al Shahania are up for the award.
The voting process was comprehensive, involving coaches from the QNB Stars League, department heads from club companies, the senior national team coach, the U-23 national team coach, national teams management, the official broadcaster, media representatives, a QFA representative, a representative from the Qatar Stars League Foundation, members of the QFA Awards Board, Aspire Academy, the Qatar Olympic Committee, and the Qatari Players Association.
The award winners will be announced during the end-of-season ceremony scheduled for May 26th at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center. Al Rayyan's Brazilian forward Roger Guedes has already clinched the Mansour Muftah Top Scorer Award, having scored 21 goals this season. He finished three goals ahead of Akram Afif, Rafa Mujica from Al Sadd, and Baghdad Bounedjah from Al Shamal, who each scored 18 goals. Dutch player Pelle van Amersfoort from Al Shahania finished fifth with 15 goals.
In addition to these awards, the winners of the Football for All award and the Best Referee Team award will be announced alongside the final results of the QFA Awards.