In this Nov 27, 2019 photo, Lyon's Danish defender Joachim Andersen and Zenit St Petersburg's Iranian forward Sardar Azmoun vie for the ball during the UEFA Champions League group G football match between Zenit and Lyon at the Gazprom Arena in Saint Petersburg. (KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)

TEHRAN - Iranian international forward Sardar Azmoun has been nominated by the AFC to become Asia's Greatest Player in the Russian Premier League, Persian Football website reported on Sunday.

The other nominees are Keisuke Honda from Japan, Kim Dong-jin from South Korea, Mukhsin Mukhamadiev from Tajikistan, Dmitri Khomukha from Turkmenistan, and Mirdjalal Kasimov, Odil Ahmedov, Vitaliy Denisov, Vladimir Maminov and Eldor Shomurodov, all from Uzbekistan.

Azmoun is the first Iranian to play in the Russian Premier League, as well as being the only Iranian to win the league title and the youngest player from his country to score in the UEFA Champions League.

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One of Azmoun's most memorable spells came in the second half of the 2018-19 season, when he scored 12 goals in 16 matches after joining title-bound Zenit St Petersburg.

Despite almost daily reports linking him to some of Europe's biggest clubs, the 25-year-old remains in Russia, where he looks set to lift the Premier League once more at the end of the current season.