Mikel & Iheanacho Dropped As CAF Release 5-Man Shortlisted For African Footballer Of The Year

This is a very bad news to Nigeria and the NFA as a whole. Nigeria no longer have representation in the run for the CAF African Player of the Year Award.

The country’s best shots, John Mikel Obi and Kelechi Iheanacho are missing in the latest five-man shortlist released by CAF on Tuesday having initially made the previous 30-man list that also had another Nigerian, Ahmed Musa included.

It is almost two decades a Nigerian has been voted as the continent’s best and it is now certain to extend into 2017. Below is the five-man shortlist for the African Player of the Year:

1. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon & Borrusia Dortmund)

2. Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Leicester City)

3. Sadio Mane (Senegal & Liverpool)

4. Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Roma)

5. Islam Slimani (Algeria & Leicester City)

For the African Player of the Year (Based in Africa), the top five are;

1. Khama Billiat (Mamelodi Sundowns & Zimbabwe)

2. Keegan Dolly (Mamelodi Sundowns & South Africa)

3. Rainford Kalaba (TP Mazembe & Zambia)

4. Hlompho Kekana (Mamelodi Sundowns & South Africa)

5. Denis Onyango (Mamelodi Sundowns & Uganda)

As stated by CAF, for the final phase, votes from the Head Coaches/Technical Directors of the 54 National Associations affiliated to CAF plus Associate Members, Reunion Island and Zanzibar, together with the other half of the 20-member Panel of Experts (10 persons) will be counted towards the determination of the eventual winners.

The 2016 Glo-CAF Awards Gala sponsored by telecommunication giants, Globacom, will be held on Thursday, 5 January 2017 in Abuja, Nigeria.