The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has reduced its shortlist for its Player of the Year award to 10 names from an initial 30 nominees.This year’s final 10 includes the top three from the last two editions, which have seen Egypt’s Mohamed Salah win the award ahead of Senegal’s Sadio Mane and Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Caf has also shortened the list of nominees for its other categories as well.
The shortlists of nominees was decided upon by votes from a Caf technical and development committee and a panel of media experts.
The final phase of voting for the men’s and women’s African Player of the Year, as well as the male and female Coach of the Year, will be selected by head coaches or technical directors and the captains of senior national teams from Caf’s member associations.
The Interclubs Player of the Year will be decided upon by the head coaches and captains of the group phase of the current African continental club competitions.
The winners will be announced during the CAF Awards ceremony on 7 January in the Egyptian resort of Hurghada.
Full list of shortlists are as follows (in alphabetical order)
Men’s Player of the Year:
• Andre Onana (Cameroon and Ajax)
• Hakim Ziyech (Morocco and Ajax)
• Ismail Bennacer (Algeria and AC Milan)
• Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal and Napoli)
• Mohamed Salah (Egypt and Liverpool)
• Odion Ighalo (Nigeria and Shanghai Shenhua)
• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon and Arsenal)
• Riyad Mahrez (Algeria and Manchester City)
• Sadio Mane (Senegal and Liverpool)
• Youcef Belaili (Algeria and Al Ahli Jeddah)
Women’s Player of the Year:
• Ajara Nchout (Cameroon and Valerenga)
• Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria and Barcelona)
• Gabrielle Onguene (Cameroon and CSKA Moscow)
• Tabitha Chawinga (Malawi and Jiangsu Suning)
• Thembi Kgatlana (South Africa and Beijing Phoenix FC)
Interclubs Player of the Year:
• Anice Badri (Tunisia and Esperance)
• Kodjo Fo Doh Laba (Togo and Renaissance Berkane/Al Ain)
• Taha Yassine Khenissi (Tunisia and Esperance)
• Tarek Hamed (Egypt and Zamalek)
• Youcef Belaïli (Algeria and Esperance/Al Ahli Jeddah)
Youth Player of the Year:
• Achraf Hakimi (Morocco and Borussia Dortmund)
• Krépin Diatta (Senegal and Club Brugge)
• Moussa Djenepo (Mali and Southampton)
• Samuel Chukwueze (Nigeria and Villarreal)
• Victor Osimhen (Nigeria and Lille)
Men’s Coach of the Year:
• Aliou Cisse (Senegal – Senegal)
• Christian Gross (Switzerland – Zamalek)
• Djamel Belmadi (Algeria – Algeria)
• Moine Chaabani (Tunisia – Esperance)
• Nicolas Dupuis (France – Madagascar)
Women’s Coach of the Year:
• Alain Djeumfa (Cameroon)
• Bruce Mwape (Zambia)
• Clementine Toure (Côte d’Ivoire)
• Desiree Ellis (South Africa)
• Thomas Dennerby (Nigeria)
Men’s National Team of the Year:
• Algeria
• Madagascar
• Nigeria
• Senegal
• Tunisia
Women’s National Team of the Year:
• Cameroon
• Ivory Coast
• Nigeria
• South Africa
• Zambia
