The AFC Annual Awards ceremony taking plac in Abu Dhabi, and local hero Omar Abdulrahman would be up for the conference's top honor -- the Player of the Year.

To win the prize, the Al-Ain star had to beat fellow nominees Wu Lei of China, and Iraq's Hammadi Ahmed. Wu led Shanghai SIPG to a third-place finish in the Chinese Super League. And the 25-year-old was the top domestic scorer in the CSL last season. Ahmed led the Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya club to the AFC Cup championship in 2016.

This is the prize that would go to the winner.

To the delight of the crowd, the award went to Abdulrahman who led Al-Ain to the finals of AFC Champions League, only to be beaten by Jeonbuk Motors of South Korea.

On the women's side, Caitlin Foord beat Australia team-mate Lisa De Vanna and China's Tan Ruyin to win the player of the year award. 

Men's Coach of the Year was South Korean Choi Kang-hee who led Jeonbuk to the AFC Champions League title last week. Jeonbuk eliminated CSL side Jiangsu Suning in the group stage, then beat Melboure Victory, SIPG, and FC Seoul on their way to the Finals, where they beat Al-Ain 3-2 on aggregate to lift the trophy.