Candidates for the most important individual award of the continent / Biranvand and maybe the Golden Ball of Asia

The number one goalkeeper of the national team was chosen as one of the three candidates for the best player of the year award

According to Sport Se, the Asian Football Confederation announced today the list of nominees for the 2026 awards, where the name of Alireza Biranvand, the goalkeeper of the Iranian national football team and Tractor Club, is seen along with Salem Al-Dosri and Firas Al-Barikan for the title of the best player of the year in Asia.

The website of the Asian Football Confederation has written about Alireza Biranvand's performance and his presence in this list that Alireza Biranvand's brilliance in the 2026 World Cup showed his abilities at the first level of world football. In these competitions, the Iranian national team failed to advance to the elimination stage only because of the goal difference. Biranvand, who holds the record number of national games among Iranian goalkeepers, also had a good club season and helped Tractor reach the round of 16 of the Asian Elite League in the 2025-26 season.

This 34-year-old goalkeeper of the Iranian national team has been nominated for the title of the best player of the year in Asia for the second time. His first engagement was in 2019.

Firas Albrikan, another player in this list, has been included in the list of candidates for the best player of the year in Asia for the first time. He had a memorable season and scored the winning goal for Saudi Arabia's Al-Ahly in the final of the Asian Elite League in the 2025-2026 season; A match that was accompanied by Al-Ahly's championship, so that this club became the second team in the history of this competition to win the championship title two times in a row.

The 26-year-old striker also helped Al-Ahly finish the league season in third place. He also scored two goals for the Saudi national team in the 2026 Asian World Cup qualifiers and played a role in the team's promotion to the World Cup. Al-Barikan played in all three matches of Saudi Arabia in the 2026 World Cup from the beginning as part of his team.

Salem Al-Dosri, the winner of the 2025 Asian Player of the Year award, has been nominated for the third time in the last four seasons of these awards. After winning this title in 2022 and 2025, the Saudi football star has the opportunity to be selected as the best player of the year in Asia for the first time in the history of this award three times.

This well-known player in the 2026 World Cup increased his number of games in this competition to 9 and jointly ranked second in the list of Saudi players with the most number of games in the history of the World Cup.

35-year-old Al-Dosri was also the captain of Al-Hilal in the 2025-2026 season; The team that went through the league season without defeat and won the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Cup for the 10th time. Under his guidance, Al-Hilal was also present in the elimination stage of the Asian Elite League in the 2025-2026 season.

The 30th Asian Football Awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, November 28 in Thailand.