Nigeria’s hopes of a first African Footballer of the Year award in almost two decades were dashed on Monday after Victor Moses was dropped from the 2017 Aiteo/CAF Awards final shortlist.
Moses, 27, was on a five-man nominee for the top award released last month.
The Chelsea star played a key role in his club’s triumphant Premier League campaign, culminating in the title.
The three left in contention for the continent’s top prize are Sadio Mane of Senegal, Pierre Aubameyang of Gabon and Mohamed Salah who only recently won the BBC African Player of the Year.
Salah and Mane play for Liverpool in the English Premier League while Aubameyang is on Borussia Dortmund’s payroll.
Only four Nigerians have won the prestigious award – the last being Nwankwo Kanu in 1999.
Nigerians, however, made the final cut in other categories for 2017.
In the female category, Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala is still very much in contention as she looks to make it a hat-trick of wins.
The China-based star will, however, see off strong opposition from the duo of Gabrielle Aboud from Cameroon and South Africa’s Chrestina Kgatlana.
In the coaches’ category, Super Eagles Technical Adviser Gernot Rohr is still very much in contention alongside Hector Cuper (Egypt) and L’Hussein Amoutta (Wydad Casablanca).
Rohr qualified Nigeria for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the first team in Africa to book a ticket to Russia.
For the team of the year, the Super Eagles and the Nigeria U-20 female, the Falconets are nominated in the male and female categories.
The awards gala will take place on Thursday, January 4, 2018 in Accra, Ghana.
Below are the final nominees in alphabetical order
African Player of the Year
Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon & Dortmund)
Sadio Mane (Senegal & Liverpool)
Women’s Player of the Year
Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria & Dalian Quanjian)
Chrestina Kgatlana (South Africa & UWC Ladies)
Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene (Cameroon & CSKA Moscow)
Youth Player of the Year
Krepin Diatta (Senegal & Sarpsborg)
Patson Daka (Zambia & Liefering)
Salam Giddou (Mali & Guidars)
Coach of the Year
Gernot Rohr (Nigeria)
Hector Cuper (Egypt)
L’Hussein Amoutta (Wydad Athletic Club)
Club of the Year
Al Ahly (Egypt)
TP Mazembe (Congo)
Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco)
National Team of the Year
Cameroon
Egypt
Nigeria
Women’s National Team of the Year
Ghana U-20
Nigeria U-20
South Africa
