Maika Hamano Is Voted Asia’s International Women’s Player Of The Year

Chelsea’s Maika Hamano has been elected as the women’s International Player of the Year for 2025 by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) today.

Shortlisted alongside two other players from the Women’s Super League – Steph Catley of Arsenal and Yui Hasegawa of Manchester City – Hamano was named today as the second recipient of the award by the AFC during a glittering award ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Hasegawa was also nominated last year but lost out on the prize to Australia’s Ellie Carpenter, then of Olympique Lyonnais, now at Chelsea. A year on, the Manchester City midfielder lost out again, this time to her international team-mate.

Tonight’s ceremonies were the 29th edition of the AFC awards. A prize for the Asian Women’s Player of the Year was first awarded in 1999 but not in every year since. There have been five previous winners from Japan – Homare Sawa, Natsuko Hara, Aya Miyama, Saki Kumagai and Kiko Seike.

Last year, the award was limited to women playing for Asian clubs with Seike winning for her performances with Urawa Red Diamonds which earned her a move to Brighton & Hove Albion in England. Tonight, the main award went to another Urawa Red Diamonds player, Hana Takahashi of Japan.

Speaking via a video link, Takahashi said “I am deeply honoured to have been awarded the AFC Women’s Player of the Year, and it is tremendously encouraging to have my efforts from last season recognised.”

A separate prize was inaugurated by the AFC for the best player plying her trade outside of the continent. Hamano was recognised for her performances for club and country during the 2024/25 season.

Still only 21, Hamano was signed by current United States Women’s National Team coach Emma Hayes for Chelsea in January 2023 on a four and a half year contract. She had excelled for Japan at the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica. Hayes described her as “a fantastic talent, she is a Golden Ball and Silver Boot winner having shone at the Under-20 World Cup.”

Then just 18, she was immediately sent on loan to Swedish team Hammarby where she scored seven goals in 17 appearances in the Damallsvenskan. Unfortunately, she sustained a shoulder injury which cut short her time in Sweden and she was recalled by Chelsea to undergo surgery and extensive rehabilitation.

Three months on, she made her Chelsea debut and later in the season scored a crucial winner away to Tottenham Hotspur as the west London side won the Women’s Super League title on goal difference. The following season, she established her place in the first team squad making a total of 30 appearances, scoring six goals and making three assists as Chelsea won the domestic treble. Last month she was rewarded with a contract extension until 2029.

Despite making her senior international debut for Japan a few months after the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in 2022, Hamano failed to score a goal for her country until the summer of 2024. Since then she has now found the net for Japan six times, including a goal at the Olympic Women’s Football Tournament and two at the She Believes Cup, which Japan won.

Elsewhere Korea DPR women’s team received the AFC President’s Recognition Award for Outstanding Achievement on account of its youth national teams winning the U20 and U17 World Cups in 2024.

AFC President Shaikh Salman said: “The exceptional successes of DPR Korea at both the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup are a resounding testament to the capable long-term planning and youth development strategies of the DPR Korea Football Association.

“The AFC President’s Recognition Award for Outstanding Achievement is a fitting tribute to their unwavering commitment to excellence, and we must once again congratulate them on the historic feats, which will serve as inspiration to the rest of Asia and has also underlined Asia’s strength on the world stage.”