Aussie Samantha Kerr named AFC Woman Footballer of the Year

CANBERRA, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Samantha Kerr has been named the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Woman Footballer of the Year.

Kerr, 24, beat Japan's Saki Kumagai and Sung Hyang Sim from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to claim the award, the third Australian to do so in four years.

The striker is coming off a year where she was named player of the season in Australia's W-League and America's National Women's Soccer League (NSWL).

She broke the NWSL single-season scoring record with 17 goals.

Kerr has become the face of the Matildas, Australia's national women's football team, scoring 11 goals in the last six games as they rose to a new all-time high ranking of sixth in the world.

Her triumph follows Matildas' teammates Katrina Gorry and Caitlin Foord winning the award in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

"It's been a bit of a crazy year," she said in accepting the award at a ceremony in Bangkok in the early hours of Thursday morning Australian time.

"I just want to say thank you to every one of my support staff for their help this year, they know who they are. And most importantly to my teammates because without them none of this would have been possible," Kerr added.

She listed several defining moments on her path to the award.

"I think my top memory would probably be ...breaking the record in the WSL and obviously as a team, winning the tournament of Nations, beating the USA for the first time, that was a special moment that I'll probably remember forever."

Outgoing Socceroos manager Ange Postecoglou was nominated for coach of the year for his role in successfully navigating the longest World Cup qualification campaign in the tournament's history, but was defeated by Japan's Masatada Ishii. Enditem