Finally, the shortlist for the prestigious CAF African Footballer of the Year award is out and the names on it as well as the omissions will surprise you.
Surprisingly, CAF has omitted Super Eagles captain Ahmed Musa and former skipper Vincent Enyeama from the 10-man shortlist for the 2015 African player of the year award.
It will be recalled that Enyeama and Musa were named in the initial 37-man shortlist for the award but have not done enough to be named one of the 10 best players from the continent in 2015.
Enyeama came third in last year’s edition of the awards.
The front runners for the award are belived to be Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast, Manchester City), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Dortmund, Gabon) and Mohamed Salah (Egypt, Roma and Fiorentina)
Toure has won the last four editions of the awards and is tied to Samuel Eto’o, who has also won it four times.
Aubameyang, finished second last year and scored 25 goals for Borussia Dortmund last season. He already has 18 goals from as many games this season.
Other names on the list include André Ayew, Aymen Abdennour, MEI Karika, Sadio Mané, Serge Aurier, Sofiane Feghouli and Yacine Brahimi.
Nominees for player based on the continent include, A Khadrouf, B Bounedjah, Felipe Ovono, K Erasmus, M A Samatta, M Meftah, Karika, Kidiaba, Assalé and Ferhat.
The awards gala will be held on Thursday, 7 January 2016 in Abuja, Nigeria.