Examining the performance of Biranvand and competitors in Asia/ will the Futsal prize reach Iran?

Iran's national team goalkeeper's rivals for the title of 2026 Asian Man of the Year have not performed brilliantly throughout the year.

According to Ambassador Arjan, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has announced the names of the nominees for each category in the 34 days until the 2026 Asian Football Championship in Bangkok, Thailand.

The most important award of the best of the old continent every year is undoubtedly the title of Asian Football Man of the Year. The defender of the Iranian national team, who competes with the two players of the Saudi national team, Firas Al-Barikan and Salem Al-Dosari, had a brilliant season with Tractor and before the heavy defeat against Shabab Al-Ahli in the round of 16, he and his team advanced to the elimination stage by winning five of the eight games of the first round.

Considering that the 2025-26 season and the 2026 World Cup are the most important for choosing the winner of these titles, Biranvand left acceptable statistics in the last season and stood in Iran's goal in the World Cup. He was far from his ideal days against New Zealand and Egypt, but he showed brilliant reactions in the match against Belgium and was named the best player on the field. Biranvand played in 29 matches during the 2025-26 Iranian football season and scored 16 clean sheets with 15 goals.

Salem Al-Dosari, who was named the best player of the old continent in 2022 and 2025, played in 35 matches last season and scored 10 goals and 10 assists. Salem, who missed all the games of the current season due to injury, did not have a special impact at the national level and did not do anything special on the field in the 2026 World Cup against Uruguay, Spain and Cape Verde. Registering six assists in the 2025 Arab Nations Games and the Saudi Cup Championship was the most important performance of the 2022 and 2025 Asia Man of the Year in the past year.

The goal scorer of Al-Ahli's championship in the 2025-26 Asian Elite League, Faras Al-Barikan, played 51 times for Al-Ahli last season, and despite being considered an offensive player, he recorded the disappointing statistics of eight goals and one assist! This striker did not have any positive effect in the failure of the Saudi national team in the 2026 World Cup and in the recent competitions of the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, he scored three goals in five matches. Al-Barikan won the Elite League and Saudi Super Cup with Al-Ahly and won the Arab Cup of the Persian Gulf.

The statistics of Biranvand's competitors show that we can hope that the Asian Football Man of the Year award will be given to a player from Iran after 22 years. Biranvand was previously nominated for this award in 2019 and now, at the age of 34, he has the opportunity to become the first goalkeeper in the history of Iranian football to be named the best player of the year in Asia.

In futsal, Saeed Ahmad Abbasi and Hossein Tayibi compete with Mohammad Osman Moussa, the Thai star of the Spanish Cartagena team. Ahmad Abbasi, who also won this award in 2024, received the Most Valuable Player award in the only Asian futsal tournament in Asia in 2026, the Asian Nations Cup, and considering that no other international competition will be held this year, it is very likely that the Asian Man of the Year award will go to Ahmad Abbasi again.

After the end of the Asian Nations Cup 2026, AFC introduced the two best teams of this tournament from the eyes of its analysts, and Ahmed Abbasi was in the first team and Usman Moussa from Thailand was in the second team. The star of the Thai national team scored 6 goals in this tournament, like Hossein Tayibi, and received the title of Mr. Goal due to his participation in fewer games. In addition to shining in the Asian Nations Cup, Tayibi also performed brilliantly in the Iranian Premier League and became the tournament's top scorer with 28 goals.

If Ahmad Abbasi wins the title of Asian Man of the Year again, he will stand next to Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh and Vahid Shamsai among the people who have won this award more than once. Also, if Hossein Tayibi wins the award, he along with Mohammad Taheri, Mohammad Keshavarz, Muslim Oladaghbad, Salar Aghapour and Ahmad Abbasi have each won this title once. Hassanzadeh and Shamsai have received four and three Asian Futsal Man of the Year awards respectively from the Asian Football Confederation.

The ceremony of the 2026 Asian Futsal winners will be held on November 28.