Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has praised Japan’s head coach Asako Takakura and Australia’s Riley McGree for their commendable achievements in the The Best FIFA Football Awards 2018 on Monday evening.
In a glittering ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall in London, England, five-time AFC Women’s Player of the Year winner Takakura just missed out on the Best FIFA Women's Coach 2018 award while 19-year-old McGree came close to being the second Asian player to win the FIFA Puskás Award after Malaysia’s Mohd Faiz Subri who won the 2016 edition.
The AFC President said: “On behalf of the Asian football family, I would like to congratulate this year’s finalists, Asako Takakura and Riley McGree for their incredible success. They have done Asia proud and I have no doubts that their achievement will serve as great inspiration to players and coaches across the Continent.
“The AFC Vision and Mission and outlined our ambitions to ensure our players and officials succeed on the world stage and once again these accolades reinforce the remarkable rise and progress of Asian football in the global game.”
Takakura, who won 79 caps for Japan and featured in the 1991, 1995 FIFA Women’s World Cups as well as the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, has enjoyed similar triumphs in her coaching career, tasting success with nearly every women’s age-group team for Japan, including being a key member of the coaching staff that won the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
She became the first female coach to lead the Nadeshiko to the coveted AFC Women’s Asian Cup Jordan 2018 title after narrowly defeating Australia 1-0 in a thrilling final in April this year.
https://www.the-afc.com/en/more/photo/riley_mcgree-fifa_best_2018.html
