Reigning African footballer of the year Yaya Toure of Cote d’Ivoire and English Premier League side Manchester City heads the shortlist for the 2012 African footballer of the nominees.
2009 winner and Yaya’s country mate Didier Drogba is the other short-listed. The Shanghai Shenhua striker together with Senegalese and Newcastle United’s Demba Ba complete the list.
Cameroonian and Barcelona midfielder Alexander song together with Ghanaian Andre Ayew who turns out for French side Olympique Marseille are the others on the list.
For the 2012 CAF Player of the Year (Based in Africa), the shortlists are (in alphabetical order); Egyptian and Al-Ahly midfielder Mohamed Aboutreika and TP Mazembe duo of Rainford Kalaba Stoppila Sunzu will be competing for the Caf 2012 African Footballer of the year based in Africa.
Sunzu and Kalaba are helped Zambian to her first Africa Cup of nations title when they defeated Ivory Coast on penalties in Gabon in February 2012.
The winners will be named at the Awards Gala to be held on December 20 at the Banquet Hall, State House, Accra in Ghana.
The process began with a selection of pool of players by the Football, Media and Technical Committees of CAF taking into consideration the performance of the players this year.
The shortlists for the 2012 CAF Player of the Year are (in alphabetical order):
1. Alexander song (Cameroon and Barcelona),
2. Andre Ayew (Ghana and Olympique Marseille)
3. Demba Ba (Senegal and Newcastle United)
4. Didier Drogba (Cote d’Ivoire and Shanghai Shenhua)
5. Yaya Toure (Cote d’Ivoire and Manchester City)
FOR THE 2012 CAF PLAYER OF THE YEAR (BASED IN AFRICA), THE SHORTLISTS ARE (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER);
1. Mohamed Aboutreika (Egypt and Al-Ahly)
2. Rainford Kalaba (Zambia and TP Mazembe)
3. Stoppila Sunzu (Zambia and TP Mazembe)