New AFC futsal award will popularise game: Shamsaee

AFC - Iranian futsal legend Vahid Shamsaee believes the institution of an annual award by the AFC to honour the best Asian futsal player will help in popularising the game in Asia.

The 30-year-old star is not surprisingly one of the chief contenders for the AFC Futsal Player of the Year award, a long overdue addition to the AFC Futsal Team of the Year award.

“I did not know about the new futsal award,” Shamsaee told www.the-afc.com. “The day after the announcement (about my nomination) was made I woke up to see many congratulatory SMS messages from my close friends, team mates and fans.”

“But I thought something was wrong and believed the news only when I watched the sports news on TV at the airport.”

But, it would have been indeed surprising had Shamsaee not made the shortlist which also has Abdul Kadir Otail (Iraq), Andrei Pestryakov (Kyrgyzstan), Hurshid Tajibaev (Uzbekistan) and Kenichiro Kogure (Japan).

After all, Shamsaee, who credits his futsal skills to gol koochik, a popular Iranian street game involving a smaller ball and reduced goal-posts, has topped the goal-scoring tables in all the eight AFC Futsal Championships held so far and played a key role in Iran winning seven of these.

“I am really happy about the nomination. Such awards will promote futsal in our continent. You can motivate players to do more in the one continental tournament we have every year through such prestigious awards,” said Shamsaee, whose No 9 jersey is a big hit with fans.

“It is also a personal honour as I am the only Iranian player to be nominated. I am proud of representing my country in this year’s awards celebration.”

Shamsaee made it clear that despite his age, he still had years of futsal left in him. “I want to continue (playing) and after a couple of years I will decide what to do,” said Shamsaee, who sruts his stuff for Tam Irankhodro club and is currently the Iran Futsal League top-scorer.

“I want to help the development of Futsal in my country and of course in Asia after ending my playing career. But right now I still enjoy scoring goals!”