Ono Asia's best

Japan and Feyenoord midfielder Shinji Ono has been crowned Asian footballer of the year for 2002 after a glittering 12 months at club and international level.

Ono saw off stiff competition from compatriot Junichi Inamoto, South Korean World Cup star Ahn Jung-hwan and China's English-based midfielder Li Tie to pick up the Asian Football Confederation award.

He will receive the trophy on June 4 when Feyenoord face Urawa Reds, Ono's former club, in a friendly in Saitama, Japan.

Ono becomes the third Japanese player after Masami Ihara (1995) and Hidetoshi Nakata (1997 and 1998) to scoop the most prestigious award in Asian football since the awards were inaugurated in 1994.

He also becomes the first person to win both the AFC Player of the Year and AFC Young Player of the Year titles, having won the latter in 1998.

The 23-year-old helped Feyenoord win the UEFA Cup in 2002, which made him only the second Asian to win a major European title after Korean Cha Bum-Kun.

Cha won the same trophy with German clubs Eintracht Frankfurt (1979/80) and Bayer Leverkusen (1987/88).

Ono's other achievements during a sterling year included helping Japan to the second round of the World Cup, and leading his club to third place in the 2001/02 Dutch league and First Group Stage of the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League.

Meanwhile, Dutchman Guus Hiddink was named AFC Coach of the Year for his historic role in leading South Korea to the semi-finals of last year's World Cup.

South Korea eventually finished fourth, the best ever performance by an Asian side at the World Cup.

Hiddink made Korea arguably the fittest team in the World Cup and ensured they peaked at the right moment to beat European giants Spain, Italy, Portugal and Poland on their way to the last four.

Lee Chun-soo, an important member of Hiddink's World Cup squad, pocketed another title for South Korea when he bagged the AFC Young Player of the Year title, following in the footsteps of past winners such as Ono and Iran's Mehdi Mahdavikia, now with German club Hamburg.

South Korea were meanwhile named AFC National Team of the Year for their World Cup heroics.