Yaya Toure, the current African Footballer of the Year, is in the running for the award this year, after the Confederation of African Football (CAF), included him in the five-man shortlist.
The others that made the cut are: Andrew ‘Dede’ Ayew, Demba Ba, Didier Drogba and Alex Song.
The five players, were part of the initial 34-man list of nominees, who were later pruned down to 10 names. The final nominees were decided by votes from the head coaches and technical directors of the football associations affiliated to CAF.
CAF also unveiled Egypt and Al Ahly midfielder Mohamed Aboutrika and Zambian duo Rainford Kalaba and Stoppila Sunzu who both play for DR Congo’s TP Mazembe, as the nominees for the Africa-based Player of the Year award.
The winners of the awards, will be announced at a ceremony in Accra, Ghana on December 20.