The Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Thursday in Cairo announced the nominees for the 2014 African Player of the Year and the 2014 African Player of the Year (Based in Africa) in the Glo-Caf Awards.
Twenty-five players were nominated for the African Player of the Year, while 20 players made the list for the Player of the Year (Based in Africa) category.
Super Eagles’ duo of Ahmed Musa who plays for CSKA Moscow and Vincent Enyeama of Lille, France, are the two Nigerians who made the list of topmost twenty five players in the main Award category, while Ejike Uzoenyi of Rangers International, Enugu is the only Nigerian shortlisted in the 20-man list of Africa-based Player of the Year.
Ahmed Musa, a very resourceful player and Vincent Enyeama, the outstanding goalkeeper, were members of the Super Eagles team that won the 2013 African Nations Cup (AFCON) in South Africa and also participated actively in the Super Eagles’ campaign in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Ejide Uzoenyi on the other hand made his international debut for Nigeria in 2012. He was called up to Nigeria’s 23-man squad for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and was named to Nigeria’s squad for the 2014 African Nations Championship where he emerged the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
He was also named in Nigeria’s provisional squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and made the final squad after Elderson Echiejile was excluded by injury.
The list was compiled through a vigorous exercise by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) which took into consideration the performance of the nominees for their national teams and clubs from January to November, this year.
Other players shortlisted for the African Player of the Year award include Ghana’s duo of Asamoah Gyan of Al-Ain and Kwadwo Asamoah of Juventus, the Senegalese: Dame N’doye of Lokomotiv Moscow and Sadio Mané of Southampton, Emmanuel Adebayor of Togo and Tottenham and the Cameroon trio of Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting of Schalke 04, Stephane Mbia of Sevilla and Vincent Aboubakar of Porto.
Others are Yao Kouassi Gervais ‘Gervinho’ of Cote d’Ivoire and AS Roma and his fellown country men: Wilfred Bony of Swansea and Yaya Toure of Man City as well as Fakhreddine Ben Youssef and Ferdjani Sassi from Tunisia and CS Sfaxien.
Also listed are Algerian quartet of Islam Slimani of Sporting Lisbon, Raïs M’Bolhi of Philadelphia Union, Sofiane Feghouli of Valencia and Yacine Brahimi of Porto. Yannick Bolasie of DR Congo and Crystal Palace, Thulani Serero of South Africa and Ajax, Seydou Keita of Mali and As Roma, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Gabon and Borussia Dortmund and Mohamed El Neny of Egypt and Basel completed the list.
In the African Player of the Year (Based in Africa) category, the twenty players shortlisted are South Africa’s Bernard Parker, Bongani Ndulula and the late Senso Meyiwa of Kaizer Chiefs Amazulu and Orlando Pirates, Amr Gamal of Egypt and Al Ahly, the duo of Akram Djahnit and El Hedi Belamieri of Algeria and ES Setif. The list also includes Tunisia and CS Sfaxien’s Fakhereddine Ben Youssef and Ferdjani Sassi.
Others are: Congo quartet of Firmin Mubel Ndombe of As Vita, Jean Kasusula of TP Mazembe, Kader Bidimbou of AC Leopards and Lema Mabidi of As Vita.
Also nominated are Geoffrey Massa of Uganda and Pretoria University, Mudathir Al Taieb of Sudan and Al Hilal, Roger Assalé of Cote d’Ivoire and Sewe Sport, Solomon Asante of Ghana and TP Mazembe, Souleymane Moussa of Cameroon and Coton Sport and Yunus Sentamu of Uganda and AS Vita.
The winners of the two categories will be decided by votes from the Head Coaches and Technical Directors of the National Associations affiliated to CAF.
The Glo-CAF Awards Gala will take place on Thursday, 8 January 2015 in Lagos, Nigeria.
Ivorian Yaya Toure was crowned African Player of the Year for the past three years whilst Mohamed Aboutreika of Egypt was named African Player of the Year (Based in Africa) last year.
