Japan's national soccer team and its coach Philippe Troussier were honored as the Asian Football Confederation's National Team of the Year and the Coach of the Year, while the Player of the Year award went to Saudi Arabia and Al-Hilal midfielder Nawaf Al Temyat, the Japan Football Association announced Wednesday.
The announcement came following the AFC's award selection meeting in Singapore.
Nawaf beat Japan's Asian Cup-winning captain and defender Ryuzo Morioka of Shimizu S-Pulse and midfielder Hiroshi Nanami of Jubilo Iwata, who was named MVP of the Asian Cup in Lebanon last October, in being selected the best player in Asia for the year 2000.
Nawaf was not able to attend the presentation ceremony held in Singapore on Wednesday after undergoing corrective surgery in Sweden.
The 24-year-old Saudi playmaker will have more than six weeks of intensive physiotherapy in Paris under the supervision of French specialist Gerard Salliant, who took care of Brazil star Ronaldo.
Frenchman Troussier, who guided Japan to victory in the Asian Cup, is the first non-Asian to be honored with the AFC's annual coaching prize.
Jubilo's young forward Ryoichi Maeda, a member of Japan's U-20 side, was named the Youth Player of the Year to become the second Japanese player to win that prize, following Shinji Ono in 1998.
South Korean Im Eun Ju became the first woman to be named Referee of the Year.