CAF has pruned the list of the nominees for various men’s award with no Nigerian in the run-in
African football’s governing body, CAF has released a list of ten nominees for the Player of The Year award.
CAF had named just one Nigerian player from a list of 30 players initially nominated. The criteria for selection of the nominees received widespread condemnation in Nigeria as Victor Osimhen, who is one of Africa’s most sought-after and best players was missing from the list.
Nantes winger, Moses Simon who was Nigeria’s best player at the AFCON in Cameroon was the only Super Eagles player on the list.
Simon has now been dropped alongside 19 other players with a list of ten contenders to produce a further final three nominees.
The players in the final ten are; Achraf Hakimi, Naby Keita, Karl Toko Ekambi, Sadio Mane, Riyad Mahrez, Mohamed Salah, Edouard Mendy, Vincent Aboubakar, Kalidou Koulibaly and Sebastian Haller.
In the Young Player of the Year category, Akinkunmi Amoo was snubbed in the final five nominees.
Amoo had made the top ten youngsters in Africa according to CAF but has been dropped in the final five nominations.
Senegal’s Pape Matar Sarr, Ghana’s Kamaldeen Suleymana, Hannibal Mejbri, Dango Ouattara and Karim Konate were the final nominees for the award.
Really not fair for CAF towards Nigeria, at least Moses deserves top five.