“All the players in the list have proved themselves this year and deserve to receive this nomination. However, it’s difficult to predict the winner due to the selection criteria which includes calculation of points,” the Uzbekistan international told www.the-afc.com.

Apart from Djeparov, Yasuhito Endo and Yuji Nakazawa of Japan, Sebastian Soria of Qatar and the UAE’s Ismail Matar will be vying for the AFC Player of the Year 2008 award which will be presented at the AFC Annual Awards ceremony in Shanghai on 25 November.

“I don’t think that I am a favourite to win the award but I can’t rule out my chances as well.”

The influential midfielder also played a key role in Kuruvchi/Bunyodkor’s domestic double and their AFC Champions League 2008 campaign.

“It was a successful season for the club as we won the league and the cup titles but unfortunately we lost in the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League,” he added.

Djeparov feels that all is not lost for the national team in the 2010 FIFA World Cup final round of qualifiers despite languishing at the bottom of the five-team table with just one point from three games.

“We started badly and lost the first two games of the fourth round. Though, I don’t think that we are weaker than Qatar or Australia. It’s now upon us to improve the situation by winning the next matches and I feel we can still make it,” he said.