Congratulations to striker Anil Gurung who was named the Ncell Football Player of the Year 2070 on Monday (April 21, 2014) at a ceremony held at All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) headquarters at Satdobato in Lalitpur. He even took home Hyundai Eon Car as the big prize!
The Player of the Year was selected through sms voting of football fans, points given by coaches and sports journalists.
Anil, 26, earned 98.71 percent of the points in total to come ahead of second placed Bharat Khawas and third placed Bhola Silwal.
All 20 members of the national team who featured in SAFF Championship were present at the function where Minister for Youth and Sports Purusottam Paudel handed over the car key to ANFA.
Speaking about his achievement, Anil who hails from Malepatan, Pokhara, said, “It is a really great moment for me. I think my effort in football since my childhood has finally been rewarded. thank all the voters for helping me earn this coveted prize.”
He became the second player after Sandeep Rai of Three Star to win the award. However, he became the fourth footballer to win car from ANFA. Previously, former Nepali international goalie Upendra Man Singh and forward Hari Khadka were awarded car by ANFA. Gurung, the Manang Marshyangdi Club (MMC) forward and a product of Sahara Academy of Pokhara, has marked his debut for the national team during 2006 SAFF Championship in Bangladesh. Since then he has been key member of the national team, won 39 caps and scored nine international goals.
Out of total weightage of the vote, SMS voting via Ncell carried 60 percent weightage while points from coaches´ and journalists carried 20 percent weightage each. SMS voting was open for a month period from March 12 to April 10.
Out of total 175,342 sms votes cast, Gurung received 164,729 votes, 98.71 percent. Similarly, he earned 19.91 percent from 88 coaches and 18.80 percent from 31 sports journalists.
Khawas, who finished runner up in the last edition of the Player of Year as well, was adjudged the best player by coaches and the journalists. He received 20 percent of point each from coaches and journalist. But he received only 1679 sms votes. Similarly, Silwal earned 17.79 percent point from coaches, 17.47 points from journalist and 836 sms votes.