The Confederation of African Football on Tuesday announced the top three nominees for the 2013 African Footballer of the Year award.
Nigeria and Chelsea’s Mikel Obi; reigning player of the year, Yaya Toure of Manchester City and Cote d’Ivoire and two-time African player of the year, Didier Drogba of Turkish Club, Galatasaray and also Cote d’Ivoire made the final list for the continent’s most prestigious individual football award.
The new winner will be announced at the awards ceremony holding at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos on January 9.
Goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, Emmanuel Emenike and Musa Ahmed were the last set of Nigerian players to drop out. Nwankwo Kanu who won the award in 1999, stands as the last Nigerian to receive the honour. The closest a Nigerian has come since then was Austin Okocha finishing as runner-up behind Samuel Eto’o for the 2003 edition.
CAF also released the names of top three finalists for the Africa-based ‘Player of the Year’ award. The players are Mohamed Aboutreika of Al-Ahly and Egypt; Ahmed Fathy also of Al-Ahly of Egypt and Sunday Mba of Warri Wolves, Nigeria. Mba made the shortlist from the Nigerian league before he got a place with Bastia of France last week. That move has cut him from the African Nations Championship holding in South Africa from January 11.
The continent’s football governing body said on Tuesday that, “The list is prepared through a vigorous selection process by the Technical, Football and Media Committees of CAF, taking into account the performance of the players for their national teams and clubs from January to November of each year. The ultimate winner of the award will be decided by votes from the head coaches or the technical directors of the national associations affiliated to CAF.”
CAF partners, Globacom who spoke through their Group Chief Operation Officer, Mr. Mohamed Jameel, on Tuesday said. “The partnership between Globacom and CAF was inspired by the company’s strong belief in football as a vehicle for communication and social integration. As the Glo-CAF partnership hits the eighth-year mark, we at Glo take pride in the significant strides our alliance with CAF has achieved in raising the quality and popularity of football in Africa.”
He said the Globacom will continue to use its clout in sports sponsorships in Africa to encourage people in sports, business and popular culture to excel.”
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