No Nigerian player has been nominated for the 2010 CAF African Footballer of the Year award to be presented in Cairo, Egypt on December 20.
The 10-man list of nominees for the prestigious award was unveiled by CAF on Sunday.
Nigeria crashed out in the first round of the World Cup in South Africa and have struggled to impress at the 2012 Nations Cup qualifiers.
And no Super Eagles player joined one of the European giants in the summer transfer. But instead the shining lifght in the group – Osaze Odemwingie – joined lowly Premier League club West Brown. Obafemi Martins quit modest German Bundesliga side Wolfsburg for Rubin Kazan in the unrated Russian league, while Chelsea’s Mikel Obi has not been able to establish himself as one of the best midfielders in the world.
However, Nigeria have a chance of shrugging off the disappointment as Eagles forward Michael Eneramo has been shortlisted for the CAF Africa-based Player of the Year award. Eneramo is the leading CAF Champions League scorer after scoring nine goals for his Tunisian club Esperance in the tournament.
South Africa 2010 World Cup revelation Ghana‘s Asamoah Gyan, who has been nominated for the 2010 FIFA Ballon d‘Or award, occupies a prominent place on the African list alongside his Black Stars teammates at the world showpiece – Andre Ayew and Kevin-Prince Boateng.
The trio will battle for the crown with three-time winner Cameroon‘s Samuel Eto‘o and the duo of Chelsea‘s Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba, who won the award last year.
Conspicuously missing from the list is Ghana and Chelsea‘s Michael Essien, who was nominated for previous awards.
Eto‘o, who has already won the award three times from 2003-2005, helped Inter Milan to win the UEFA Champions League in May.
Drogba, who also took the award in 2006, was pivotal for the Chelsea side that won the English Premier League title in May.
Eneramo faces a tough challenge from Ahmed Hassan (Al-Ahly and Egypt), Oussama Darragi (Esperance and Tunisia), Alain Kaluyituka Dioko (TP Mazembe and DR Congo)and Mohamed Nagy ‘Gedo‘ (Al-Ahly and Egypt) for the Africa-based Player of the Year. award.
National coaches or technical directors of CAF member nations will choose the winners. 2010 CAF awards shortlist:
Source: http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201011080402964
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