♣ Titan Sports

Titan Sports (Chinese: 体坛周报) is a Chinese sports newspaper, operated by the Titan Sports Media Group. It is the most circulated sports newspaper in China.

The Best Footballer in Asia 2023, recognizing the best male footballer in Asia in 2023, was the 11th edition of the Best Footballer in Asia. Son Heung-min claimed the award on 15 January 2024. It was his seventh Best Footballer in Asia title in a row, and eighth title overall. The event was judged by a panel of sixty-three sports journalists. Son received 17 first-place votes, 24 second-place votes, 7 third-place votes, 5 fourth-place votes, 2 fifth-place votes and finished on 231 points in total.

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♣ History

1988-2000

Titan Sports was founded in 1988 as a sports newspaper owned and operated by Hunan Sports General Association. On 3 December 1990, Titan Sports started a new column, "European Leagues Round-up", which meant that it became the first Chinese newspaper keeping track of European football. In May 1992, Titan Sports launched continuous coverage of the 1992 NBA Finals with its column "Up to date: The Final Chapter of NBA", as the first Chinese media outlet reporting National Basketball Association games in the form of continuous coverage. In 1994, Titan Sports started keeping track of Chinese domestic league Jia A after its foundation.

In the market competition of Chinese newspapers in the late 1990s, Titan Sports gradually exceeded other sports newspapers in China in circulation and in public influence. During the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics, its circulation surpassed 2 million per issue.

2001: World Cup qualifying

The 2002 World Cup qualifying rounds became the major focus of Titan Sports after the 2000 Summer Olympics, in 2001. China was attempting to qualify; that year average per issue circulation of Titan Sports was 1.6 million. On 7 October 2001, China defeated Oman 1:0 in Shenyang to qualify for the 2002 World Cup, its first time qualifying for the World Cup. The issue of Titan Sports on 8 October 2001 had a record-breaking circulation of 2.6 million. It is still a record in the history of newspaper publication in China.

2001-2008

After the 2002 World Cup, the next major opportunity for Titan Sports was the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. In order to prepare for reporting on the Olympics and to expand its market share and influence, Titan Sports opened a Beijing Bureau in 2005, as a second headquarters of Titan Sports Media Group apart from its original base in Changsha.

2008-present

During the Olympic year of 2008, Titan Sports developed its multi-media platforms in response to the changes in how Chinese people receive and read sports news. On 1 May 2008, three months before the opening of the Summer Olympics, titan24.com was built as the official website of Titan Sports. In October 2015, Titan Sports Plus was created as the mobile app of Titan Sports Media Group, via which articles from Titan Sports are also selectively published.

♣ Awards

In 2012, Titan Sports founded Best Footballer in Asia, an annual prize presented to the best football player to have played for an Asian national football team or Asian football club during the preceding year. It has been presented since 2013, as the most influential football prize in Asia apart from the annual prizes awarded by AFC.

Titan Sports Best Footballer in Asia

Best Footballer in Asia (Chinese: 亚洲金球奖) is an annual association football award organized and presented by Titan Sports. It is awarded to the player who had the best performance for Asian football during the previous calendar year.

History

Inspired by Ballon d'Or and France Football, the editorial team of Titan Sports decided to launch an award in honor of the player deemed to have performed the best in Asian football over the previous year. This award was founded in 2013. The winner is voted by a panel of football journalists, the majority of whom are from nations/regions corresponding to national associations of Asian Football Confederation, while the others are from media outlets of non-AFC nations/regions.

Eligibility

The prize is open to all footballers who participate Asian football, by playing for national teams or clubs affiliated to Asian Football Confederation during the targeted calendar year.

In detail, three categories of players are eligible to be nominated as candidates of the prize.

1. a) Footballers who have nationality/citizenship of nations/regions corresponding to national associations affiliated to AFC, and play for football clubs affiliated to AFC. (e.g. Omar Abdulrahman, the UAE footballer playing for Al Ain won the second place in Best Footballer in Asia 2016)
2. b) Footballers who play for non-AFC clubs, and are eligible to play FIFA 'A' matches during the targeted year representing national teams (either senior level or any junior level) of national associations affiliated to AFC. (e.g. Son Heung-min, who played in European leagues and Korea Republic national football team, is the record Best Footballer in Asia winner).
3. c) Footballers who are not citizens of nations/regions corresponding to national associations affiliated to AFC, and play for football clubs of national associations affiliated to AFC. (e.g. Elkeson, the Brazilian striker who played for Guangzhou Evergrande won the second place of the inaugural Best Footballer in Asia)

Voting

The juror team is constituted by a panel of journalists, invited from AFC nations/regions and non-AFC media outlets. Each juror contributes one vote.

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 (Before 2017, the first-choice was awarded 5 points rather than 6). The trophy of the Best Footballer in Asia is awarded to the player with the highest total of points. Since 2017, the first-choice player in each vote will be awarded 6 points while the other 4 choices will still be awarded 4, 3, 2 points and 1 point respectively according to their ranking in each vote.

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.

1. a) The number of the 1st-place vote obtained
2. b) The number of the 2nd-place vote obtained
3. c) The number of the 3rd-place vote obtained
4. 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.

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