…Aubameyang set to retain title
Names of Nigerian players were missing in the latest nominations for the top five that would battle for the 2016 African Player of the Year and the 2016 African Glo-CAF Awards.
Top on the list is the reigning African Footballer of the Year and Borussia Dortmund winger, Gabonese Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. He is joined by Senegal and Liverpool midfielder, Sadio Mane, and Mohamed Salah of As Roma of Italy and Egypt. The remaining two players shortlisted are Algeria’s duo of Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani who both play for Leicester City of England
In the African Player of the Year (Based in Africa) category, the five shortlisted players include the quartet of Dennis Onyango, Hlompho Kekana, Keegan Dolly and Khama Billiat from the 2016 African Champions League winning side, Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, while T.P Mazembe player, Rainford Kabala from Zambia completed the list.
Top Nigerian players, Kelechi Iheanacho of Manchester City, Chelsea’s John Mikel Obi and Ahmed Musa of Leicester City made the top Thirty but narrowly missed out of the Top 5 list.
Other categories of Awards to be released by CAF in the coming weeks include Most promising Talent Award, National team of the year, Football Manager of the Year, Africa’s Finest Eleven, Goal of the Year and Save of the Year. Others are Referee of the Year, CAF fair play Award and African Legend Award.
The winners will be decided by votes from the Head Coaches and Technical Directors of the National Associations affiliated to CAF.
They will be unveiled at the Glo- CAF Awards Gala nite which will take place on Thursday, January 5, 2017 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, Nigeria.
Gabonese Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was crowned African Player of the Year whilst Mbwana Aly Samatta of Tanzania was named African Player of the Year (Based in Africa) last year.
