[Air Fly]

An Asian Football Confederation Spokesman told Goal.com “The main criteria is that the recipient must be present in Kuala Lumpur. If he is not present, then he forfeits the award. And we will award it to the next player on the list.”

The 24 year-old South Korean was the frontrunner for the 2005 prize that is to be handed out in Kuala Lumpur on November 30 but Manchester United said they will not release the midfielder as they have a Carling Cup fouth round fixture with West Brom and Nakata will be in action for Bolton against Leicester on the same evening.

Link

Goal.com

Park And Nakata Disqualified From Player Of The Year Award

The Asian Football Confederation has confirmed that Park Ji-sung and Hidetoshi Nakata will forfeit the Asian Player of the Year award, should they win, as both players will not be able to attend the ceremony due to club commitments.
An Asian Football Confederation Spokesman told Goal.com “The main criteria is that the recipient must be present in Kuala Lumpur. If he’s not present, then he forfeits the award. And we will award it to the next player on the list.”

The 24 year-old South Korean was the frontrunner for the 2005 prize that is to be handed out in Kuala Lumpur on November 30 but Manchester United said they will not release the midfielder as they have a Carling Cup fouth round fixture with West Brom and Nakata will be in action for Bolton against Leicester ont he same evening.

 

[Air Fly]

That's just no fair imo, how did they come out with this stupid rule?

Park was surley gonna win it but now i think Karimi has the bigger chance of winning it again.

 

[joshed_up]

this is just plain dumb.

 

[DavidBlunkett]

i`d tell man utd to naff off if i was park,it is a great acvhievement to be honoured by your peers

 

[Turkish Delight]

Stupid rule. Are they just bitter that their better players are moving abroad? Jeez.

 

[alexander]

this is ridiculous

 

[Auggie]

agreed this is pathetic

 

[bbasok]

Silly rules

 

[MonkeyBallZJr]

Now its down to 3 unknown players that nobody's ever heard of, good job AFC, thanks for making Asia look like a complete joke.

 

[futuristxen]

Yeah, now the award means nothing. It will say AFC player of the year, but everyone will know it's really 3rd best AFC player of the year.

Very pathetic. It makes the AFC look petty and stupid to the rest of the world.

I feel bad for Park though, but ManU can't spare the bodies. And Park is amazing.

 

[Yao Mania]

Very stupid, just makes the award seem more worthless.