Regret! Wang Shuang missed the 2025 Asian Football Miss. Winning the Women’s AFC Champions League was still dragged down by the performance of the national team.

Special Writer/Remarks In the early morning of October 17, the 2025 AFC Annual Awards Ceremony was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In the Asian Women's Football of the Year Award, which has the best chance of winning, Wang Shuang from the Wuhan Cheguji University Women's Football Team in China unexpectedly lost to Hana Takahashi of Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds and missed the chance to win the award for the second time.

At the end of September, the AFC announced three candidates for Miss Asian Football 2025, namely Wang Shuang (China), McNamara (Australia), and Hana Takahashi (Japan). At that time, the AFC official evaluation of the three people was as follows:

"Wang Shuang played a key role in the Wuhan Jiangda Women's Football Team's historic victory in the first Women's AFC Champions League. She scored a penalty kick to equalize the score in the final and won the subsequent penalty shootout. The 30-year-old, who has made 130 appearances for the Chinese national team, remains one of Asia's most influential playmakers and will look to add another trophy to his tally at the end of 2023. After the ligament injury, McNamara performed well in the 2024-25 season. She scored 15 goals in 17 regular season games and became the top scorer. She led the Melbourne City Women's Football Team to win their fourth Australian Women's Super League championship and scored a goal in the Women's AFC Champions League to help the team reach the final. The 22-year-old player also returned to the Australian national team and scored her first international match goal in June 2025.

The backbone of the Urawa Red Diamonds women's football team Takahashi Hana helped the team win the second Domestic cup champion and third in the league, while reaching the quarter-finals of the 2024/25 Women's AFC Champions League, the 25-year-old centre-back has also recently established himself in the Japanese national team, qualifying for the 2024 Olympics and appearing in every game at the Olympics, helping the team reach the quarter-finals. "

Before the award ceremony, Wang Shuang arrived in Riyadh and participated in an official interview. She said: "I feel gratified and honored to be nominated for Miss Asia again after 7 years. When I first found out I was nominated At that time, I was relatively calm, but when I set out on the journey to Riyadh yesterday, I started to become more excited. If I can win this award for the second time and win it in the place where my idol Cristiano Ronaldo plays, then I will be very happy. In the past 10 years, the Chinese women's football career has continued to develop. If I win the award, it will be a great incentive for the next generation of players to pursue their dreams. "

However, it was Hana Takahashi from Japan who finally won the 2025 Asian Miss Football. This result is quite controversial in the eyes of the outside world, because during this selection cycle, there are no major national team competitions in Asia, only the East Asian Cup, so the first women's football AFC Champions League should become a more valued honorary standard.

Wang Shuang represented Wuhan Jiangda and won the most important first women's football AFC Champions League. She played 3 games and scored 2 goals with outstanding performance. She defeated Urawa Red Diamonds where Takahashi played and McNamara's Melbourne City. In the opening game of the just-concluded FIFA Women's Champions League, she helped the team break through the first round on behalf of Asia.

Hana Takahashi only played one AFC Champions League knockout match and lost to Wuhan. The domestic cup championship and third place in the league are obviously not enough for her to win the Asian Football Miss. However, in August 2024, her performance in representing Japan in the Olympics and reaching the quarterfinals was emphasized by the AFC, but this achievement is not a breakthrough achievement for either the Asian women's football team or the Japanese women's football team.

What also proves the surprise of the result is that Hana Takahashi did not even arrive at the award ceremony, and only spoke through a pre-recorded video: "I am honored to be awarded the title of AFC Women's Football Player of the Year. My efforts last season were recognized, which makes me feel very encouraged. Next year's Women's Asian Cup is coming soon, My current focus is to strive to be selected for the Japanese women's national team. For my club, I am determined to go all out to win the domestic league and cup championships and ensure qualifications for the Women's AFC Champions League."

For Wang Shuang and the Chinese women's football team, this impact on the Asian Football Miss is indeed a big blow. During the period when the Chinese women's football team was absent from the competition, the outstanding results achieved in the club were the best opportunity to achieve personal honors, but in the end they were not elected because the national team's performance was not as good as their opponents.

But for Wang Shuang and her teammates, is this not a reverse stimulus? The second round of the 2025/2026 Women's AFC Champions League and FIFA Women's Champions League will start in November, and the 2026 Asian Cup will start in March - in the face of regret or injustice, perhaps results are a more powerful response!