“Come next year” was the message from CAF as there were no spots for Nigerian players on the CAF African Footballer of the Year Award 5-man shortlist for 2016 released on Monday.
No Nigeria player has won the award since Nwankwo Kanu won it in 1999. The lack of club playing time for Mikel is undoubtedly responsible for his omission after his impressive performance at the Olympics. The promising duo of Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi sadly didn’t do enough to make the shortlist.
The list had Algerian Leicester City of England midfielder, Riyad Mahrez alongside Egyptian pacey attacker Mohammed Salah who shockingly missed out on the shortlist for the BBC African Footballer of the Year Award. Here is the 5-man shortlist:
- Riyad Mahrez: Algeria/ Leicester City FC
- Islam Slimani: Algeria/ Leicester City FC
- Mohammed Salah: Egypt/ AS Roma
- Saido Mane: Senegal/ Liverpool FC
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang: Gabon/ Borussia Dortmund
In an uncharacteristic move, the CAF shortlist corrects the error of omission on the BBC AFOTY shortlist which omitted Leicester striker, Islam Slimani and Roma attacker, Mohammed Salah who both had a tremendous 2015/16 season.
Riyad Marez is appearing on his second shortlist in two weeks following fairytale title-winning campaign with Leicester City. The 25-year old winger recorded 17 goals and 14 assists to become the first African to win the PFA fans player of the year and the PFA player of the year awards for the 2015/16. He has scored over 22 goals and recorded over 18 assists for Leicester since he moved to the club from Le Harve in 2011.
The reigning African Footballer of the year, Aubameyang, who is appearing on the list for the third consecutive year, recorded 35 goals in 47 appearances for Borussia Dortmund last season. The striker who finished second behind Yaya Toure in 2014 scored 25 goals in the German Bundesliga to win the silver shoe behind Polish striker, Robert Lewandowski.
Other nominees Slimani, Sallah and Mane all had an incredible 2015/16 season, and have continued right from where the stopped last season. Slimani has scored 33 goals in 44 appearances for club and country in the last 12 months. His incredible feat secured him a big-money move to English premier league Champions, Leicester City. Egyptian international, Mohammed Salah, who was a surprise omission from the BBC shortlist, has been in top form since he joined Roma in the summer of 2015. The pacey winger has scored over 24 goals in 49 appearances since the beginning of the 2015/16 season.
The impressive performance of Senegalese international, Saido Mane, during the 2015/16 season secured him a big-money move to Liverpool during the summer transfer window. He has been in top form having scored six goals and further assisted two for the highly entertaining Jurgen Klopp side. As a matter of fact, these five players deserved the nominations.
CAF also released nominations for the annual awards which is billed to take place in Abuja, Nigeria in January 2017. In the African Player based in Africa category, Mamelodi Sundown’s Khama Billiat was joined on the list by his teammates Keegan Dolly, Hlompo Kekana and Denis Onyango. Zambian international, Rainford Kalaba who plays his club football for TP Mazembe completes the list.
In a statement on CAF website, it was stated that the top five players on both lists were determined after votes by members of CAF Technical and development committee, CAF Media Committee and half the twenty-member Panel of Experts. The statement also added that the eventual winners would be decided by votes from associate members of CAF, Head Coaches/ Technical Directors of the 54 national associations affiliated to CAF as well as the other half of the 20-member Panel of Experts.
The CAF award has over the years been criticised to its secret voting system that is hidden from fans and followers of the game in contrast to the fan based and open system of the BBC award. Some have gone on to say the system aids bias and corruption in the choice of a winner as members could woo others to vote their favourite players.
The CAF awards will hold in Abuja on January 5, 2017.
