has become the first woman to be nominated for Asian Player of the Year in the Asian Football Confederation's annual awards, AFP reported.Sun was the best player at the Women's World Cup in the United States last year and winner of the "Golden Shoe" as top scorer in the tournament, the confederation said in a statement received Tuesday.
She joins Iran's Ali Daei, Masashi Nakayama of Japan, Hwang Sun-Hong of South Korea, Kuwait's Bashar Abdullah and Hidetoshi Nakata in the list of nominees for the 1999 awards to be announced in Beirut on April 6.
The confederation said Sun "truly sparkled" as captain of the Chinese women's team. It was beaten in a penalty shoot-out by the US in the final amid huge media interest.
Nakata is aiming for a hat-trick in Beirut after having won the Asian Player of the Year Award in 1997 and 1998, the statement said.
He has established himself as one of the finest midfielders in Italy's Serie A. AS Roma paid Perugia 17 million dollars in January for his services.
Ali Daei's goals in the European Champions' League for Hertha Berlin against Chelsea and AC Milan are unrivalled in the history of Asian footballers, the confederation said.
It said Nakayama, who plays for Jubilo Iwata in the J-League, had good performances in the Asian Club Championship and the Asian Super Cup.
Hwang finished 1999 as the J-League's top scorer with 23 goals while Bashar Abdullah was a key figure in Kuwait's successful Olympic soccer campaign.
The Chinese women's World Cup team also received nominations for the Asian Team of the Year and the Asian Women's Team of the Year awards.
Also nominated for the Asian Team of the Year are Kuwait's Olympic side.
Other nominations are for the Japan Under-20's team, which against all expectations reached the final of the FIFA World Youth Championship, and the Uzbekistan national side which finished last year unbeaten.
China and Taiwan are the two nominees for the Asian Women's team of the Year Award. Taiwan finished runner-up to China in the Asian Women's Championship.
Nominees for Asian Coach of the Year are the late Mahmood Rakhimov of the Uzbekistan national side, Japan's Jubilo Iwata coach Takeshi Kuwahara, Radjko Avramovic who led the Kuwait team to victory in the Olympic qualifying round and Philippe Troussier who was coach of the Japanese Under-20 team in the World Youth Championships in Nigeria.
Also winning a nomination is China's women's World Cup coach Ma Yunam.
Sun: Best footballer in the past century (2000-11-30)Women's Soccer: China 1, United States 1 (2000-09-17)Sun Wen is first woman to be nominated for Asian soccer award (2000-03-21)Coach: China Still the Better Team (1999-07-11)Five American, Seven Chinese Selected World Cup All-Stars (1999-07-09)
