Australian referee Matthew Cream yesterday won the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Assistant Referee of the Year Award for men following his consistent performances running the line in 2009.

Cream was honoured with the award ahead of rivals Toru Sagara, of Japan, and Kyrgyzstan's Bahadyr Kochkarov.

"This is an absolute honour for me to win this Award this evening," said Cream.

"It is especially great in this Asian Referees Year, which shows that the AFC is recognising the importance of referees in Asia."

Cream proved to be the deserving winner of the 2009 AFC Assistant Referee of the Year Award, for his outstanding performances in important matches this year, including the third and fourth place match of the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 in South Africa and the AFC Champions League final.

Cream obtained an outstanding average of 9.02 for his matches and was deemed to be a worthy winner of the AFC Assistant Referee of the Year Award.