Leadership (Abuja)
22 December 2011
Four-time CAF African player of the year, Samuel Eto’o Fils has been dropped in the final shortlist of the award. Andre ‘Dede’ Ayew, Yaya Toure and Seydou Keita however were named on the final shortlist for the 2011 edition of the best award for an African player.
It means that Eto’o, the last year’s winner misses out on the 2011 title. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Accra today. He will be crowned after a vote by national team head coaches and technical directors from within CAF. Ayew, Toure and Keita are the final contenders for the crown after CAF revealed that Eto’o and Senegal’s Moussa Sow failed to make the final shortlist. Ayew, who plays for Marseille and Ghana, was named as the BBC African Player of the Year last week.
He helped his club to Cup success in France last season, steered them into the knock-out phase of the European Champions League and was a key man for Ghana as the Black Stars qualified with some ease for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
Yaya Toure has been central to the resurgence of Manchester City and is central to Ivory Coast’s success as well – The Elephants qualified for the Nations Cup with a perfect record.
Keita has helped all-conquering Barcelona throughout another impressive 12 months and returned to the Mali side in time to help them squeeze through qualification for Equatorial Guinea and Gabon ahead of Cape Verde.
CAF will also today reveal the winners of several other awards, including female player of the year, African-based player of the year and national team of the year.
The women’s shortlist features Nompumelelo Nyandani of South Africa, Perpetua Nkwocha from Nigeria and Miriam Paixao Silva of Equatorial Guinea.
AllAfrica – All the Time