Kunle Adewale
African football’s governing body, CAF, has released a list of 10 nominees for the Player of The Year award after pruning the initial list of nominees for various men’s awards with no Nigerian in the run-in.
CAF had named just one Nigerian player from a list of 30 players initially nominated. The criteria for selection of the nominees received widespread condemnation in Nigeria as Victor Osimhen, who is one of Africa’s most sought-after and best players was missing from the list.
Nantes winger, Moses Simon, who was Nigeria’s best player at the AFCON 2031 in Cameroon was the only Super Eagles player on the list.
Simon has now been dropped alongside 19 other players with a list of 10 contenders to produce a further final three nominees.
The players in the final 10 are; Achraf Hakimi, Naby Keita, Karl Toko Ekambi, Sadio Mane, Riyad Mahrez, Mohamed Salah, Edouard Mendy, Vincent Aboubakar, Kalidou Koulibaly and Sebastian Haller.
In the Young Player of the Year category, Akinkunmi Amoo was snubbed in the final five nominees.
Amoo had made the top ten youngsters in Africa according to CAF but has been dropped in the final five nominations.
Senegal’s Pape Matar Sarr, Ghana’s Kamaldeen Suleymana, Hannibal Mejbri, Dango Ouattara and Karim Konate were the final nominees for the award.
Full List of Nominees
Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Man City)
Karl Toko Ekambi (Cameroon & Olympique Lyon)
Vincent Aboubacar (Cameroon & Al Nassr)
Sebastien Haller (Ivory Coast & Ajax)
Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool)
Naby Keita (Guinea & Liverpool)
Achraf Hakimi (Morocco & PSG)
Edouard Mendy (Senegal & Chelsea)
Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal & Napoli)
Sadio Mane (Senegal & Bayern)
