Middlesbrough goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, Spurs defender Lee Young-Pyo and Fulham winger Seol Ki-Hyeon were Tuesday named as contenders for the AFC Player of the Year award.

The English-based trio were joined by Palermo and Australia star Mark Bresciano, Yuji Nakazawa of Japan and the Yokohama F Marinos, and Iraqi Hawar Mullah Mohamed, who plays his club football with Qatar's Al Khor.

They were among a list of 21 players for the annual award, which will be whittled down to three ahead of the announcement of the winner in Shanghai in November.

While the English Premier League players are the star names, Bahrain and Singapore dominate in the numbers department with three players nominated each. Uzbekistan, South Korea, Australia, and Asian champions Iraq have two players each in contention.

The procedure for selecting the best player in Asia has been overhauled this year "to inject more transparency in the process." Choosing the winner will still be based on a weighted ranking system which takes into account performances at major Asian Football Confederation and FIFA tournaments.

However, a four-pronged rationalised approach has been adopted, taking into account points awarded by AFC Match Commissioners, a technical study group, technical analysts and fans.

Last year's winner, Saudi Arabian goal-machine Yasser Al Qahtani, was not among the nominees.

Full list of contenders

Ala'a Hubail (Bahrain and Al Kuwait)
Ahmad Ajab (Kuwait and Al Qadsiya)
Aleksandar Duric (Singapore and Singapore Armed Forces FC)
Ebrahim Sadeghi (Iran and Saipa)
Fabio Cesar (Qatar and Umm Salal)
Hawar Mullah Mohamed (Iraq and Al Khor)
Indra Sahdan Daud (Singapore and Home United)
Seol Ki-Hyeon (Korea Republic and Fulham)
Mark Bresciano (Australia and Palermo)
Mark Schwarzer (Australia and Middlesbrough)
Mohamad Alhamwi (Syria and Al Karama)
Mohammad Shahril Ishak (Singapore and Home United)
Mosab Balhous (Syria and Al Karama)
Rashid Saleem (Bahrain and Al Najma)
Salih Sader (Iraq and Al Ansar)
Mohamed Salmeen (Bahrain and Al Muharraq)
Timur Kapadze (Uzbekistan and Kuruvchi)
Ulugbek Bakaev (Uzbekistan and Kuruvchi)
Hong Yong-Jo (Korea DPR and FK Bezanija)
Lee Young-Pyo (Korea Republic and Tottenham Hotspur)
Yuji Nakazawa (Japan and Yokohama F Marinos)