• Home-based Eagles missing too
• Enyeama, Musa dropped
Despite making it to the first round of the nominations for the Glo/CAF African Footballer of the Year, Nigeria’s duo of Vincent Enyeama and Ahmed Musa were conspicuously missing from the top 10 shortlisted for the final round of the award.
In the top 10 nominees released by CAF yesterday in the African Player of the Year 2015 and African Player of the Year (Based in Africa) 2015, Enyeama and Musa have been dropped from the initial list released few weeks ago by the continental football ruling body.
The omission of Nigerian players from the list may be connected to the inability of the Super Eagles to make it to the 2014 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) which was won by Cote d’ Ivoire.
Topping the list of nominees for the African Player of the Year 2015 is three-time winner of the award, Cote d’Ivoire and Manchester City midfielder, Yaya Toure. Others are André Ayew (Ghana & Swansea), Aymen Abdennour (Tunisia & Valencia), Mudather Eltaib Ibrahim ‘Karika’ (Sudan & El Hilal), Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Roma), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon & Borussia Dortmund), Sadio Mané (Senegal & Southampton), Serge Aurier (Cote d’Ivoire & Paris Saint Germain), Sofiane Feghouli (Algeria & Valencia) and Yacine Brahimi ( Algeria & Porto).
Also, no Nigerian home-based players was listed in the African Player of the Year Based in Africa, as the top 10 nominees are Abdeladim Khadrouf (Morocco & Moghreb Tetouan), Baghdad Bounedjah ( Algeria & Etoile du Sahel), Felipe Ovono (Equatorial Guinea & Orlando Pirates), Kermit Erasmus (South Africa & Orlando Pirates), Mbwana Aly Samatta (Tanzania & TP Mazembe) Mohamed Meftah ( Algeria & USM Alger), Mudather Eltaib Ibrahim ‘Karika’ (Sudan & El Hilal), Robert Kidiaba Muteba ( DR Congo & TP Mazembe), Roger Assalé (Cote d’Ivoire & TP Mazembe) and Zineddine Ferhat (Algeria & USM Alger).
The winner will be decided by votes of the Coaches or Technical Directors of the National Associations affiliated to CAF while the awards gala will be held on Thursday, 7 January 2016 in Abuja, Nigeria.