XI'AN, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese football fans are celebrating Wang Shuang being named AFC Women's Player of the Year at the AFC Annual Awards 2018 in Muscat, Oman on Wednesday.
Although three Chinese players had previously claimed the award, this had not happened for 12 years. One comment from the Dongqiudi chatroom reading "Congratulations, you are the pride of China," was typical of the online outpouring of praise and approval.
Wang's impressive displays for both her former club Dalian Quanjian and her country caught the eye of French giants Paris Saint-Germain, who offered the 23-year-old a two-year contract in August 2018. "In fact, PSG's best player is not Kylian Mbappe or Neymar, it's Wang Shuang!" wrote one netizen on the popular Hupu chatroom.
At the 2016 Olympic Games, Wang suffered heartache when she missed a penalty in China's 1-0 defeat to Germany in the quarterfinals, but received praise for her overall performance in that tournament.
This year, Wang helped China finish third in the 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup in Jordan and scored six goals at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, helping China to the silver medal.
"I'd like to ask the Chinese Football Association to allow Wang to play for the men's team," joked one fan on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform. "I want to marry Wang, so to my love-rivals all over China, I say show your blades, and let's fight to the death for this woman!"
China have secured their ticket for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France, with many fans expecting their 23-year-old star to help Team China progress out of the tournament's group stage.
"Now that Wang has been awarded the AFC Women's Player of the Year, surely the FIFA Women's Player of the Year trophy is on its way to her too!" said one hopeful Weibo user. "The wonderful memories of Wang Shuang this year will remain for a long time."
