With his silky skills and his ability to wrong-foot defenders at will, Thailand's Chanathip Songkrasin has emerged as the best of the best by scooping the Player of the Year honour at the Asean Football Federation Awards Night at the Novotel Yangon Max Hotel in Yangon on Saturday.
The 5ft 2in BEC Tero Sasana midfielder was instrumental in Thailand's campaign at the AFF Suzuki Cup in 2014 where his two goals steered the Kingdom to their fourth Asean crown when they beat Malaysia in the final.
"I am of course very happy to win this award," said Chanathip. "As a player, I am very grateful to be given this honour as it will drive me to be even better next year."
The night belonged to Thailand as they took home nine out of the 18 awards, with six of their players being named to the AFF Best XI of 2014. They were Kawin Thamsatchanan, Tanaboon Kesarat, Peerapat Notechaiya, Sarach Yooyen, Kroekrit Thaweekarn and Chanathip.
The other five players named in the XI were Muhammad Shukor Adan and Safiq Rahim from Malaysia, Harris Harun from Singapore and Luong Thanh Pham and Le Cong Vinh from Vietnam.
Thailand head coach Kiatisak Senamuang won the Best Coach award for men, while Nuengrutai Srathongviang was voted the best coach for women.
The Kingdom's men's team and its futsal team were also rated as the best.
"It has been a great and wonderful year for Thai football but I would like to point out that all of this would not have been possible without the cooperation of everyone involved -- inside the team and outside," said Worawi Makudi, the president of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT).
"The players and officials worked hard towards this success and I hope that we can do even better after this."
Kiatisak said: "I would like to thank every player and the FAT for this honour. We worked hard and these prizes will serve as good inspirations for myself and the players."
"This will also send a message to other Asean nations how great Thai football is. Every country is interested in our team and has an eye on us after we received many awards so we must keep on improving."
Kiatisak and his players -- Kawin, Sarach, Kroekrit and Peerapat -- will now join the other 19 national players at a training camp at Kirin Valley to prepare for the World Cup qualifier against Iraq on Sept 8.
