Alex Iwobi is Nigeria’s only hope of winning the 2018 African Footballer of the Year award after making it to the final 10 nominees on Friday.
Super Eagles teammates Odion Ighalo and Ahmed Musa were dropped from the initial 34 earlier released by the Confederation of African Footballer (CAF).
Iwobi will have to contend with Liverpool duo Mohammed Salah and Saido Mane as well as Arsenal teammate Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
In the young player category, Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi remains on course to claim his first CAF award after the Nigerian made the final three nominations alongside Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi and Franck Kessie of Ivory Coast.
It was, however, all good for Nigeria in the Women’s category with three-time African Footballer of the Year Asisiat Oshoala making the cut with Francisca Ordega and defender Onome Ebi.
Similarly, Nigeria female national team, the Super Falcons have also been shortlisted for the team of the year whilst head coach Thomas Dennerby also makes the cut for the coach of the year award.
The shortlisted nominees were decided by votes from the members of the CAF Technical & Development Committee.
The final phase will involve votes from CAF Media Experts, Legends, Coaches of the quarter-finalists of the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup, and Coaches & Captains of the 54 Member Associations.
The Awards Gala will be held on Tuesday, 8 January 2019 in Dakar, Senegal.
