ASPIRE ACADEMY GRADUATES AFIF AND GABER WIN QFA AWARDS

Aspire Academy graduate Akram Afif was named the Qatar Football Association 's Player of the Season for a fourth time at a ceremony on Sunday. At the same time, another Academy alumni, Jassim Gaber, showcased his talent and won the under-23 award.

Afif, who helped his side Al Sadd win the Amir Cup on Friday, also picked up the Mansour Muftah Award for being the top scorer in the 2023-24 Expo Stars League, thanks to his 26 goals that helped his club win a 17th league title,

He won the Best Player of the Season award ahead of Algeria’s Yacine Brahimi of Al Gharafa and Brazilian Roger Guedes of Al Rayyan.

Al Arabi’s Jassim Gaber won the under-23 award after finishing second last year behind another Aspire graduate, Osama Al-Tairi.

It is the fourth year in a row that the accolade has gone to a former Aspire student-athlete, after Al Gharafa’s Homam Al Ameen won it in 2021 and 2022.

Gaber and Afif were both part of the Qatar national team that retained the AFC Asian Cup on home soil in February.

That squad, which featured 18 Aspire Academy graduates, was also honoured at Sunday’s awards ceremony.

Akram Afif’s league awards go alongside the ones he won at the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 , where he was also the top scorer with eight goals and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP).