Super Eagles stars make CAF shortlist for 2017 African Player of the Year award

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Wednesday, November 1 released the 30-man shortlist and also the nominees for the African Player of the Year-Based in Africa.

The winner of the awards will be announced at the Awards Gala which will hold on Thursday, January 4 in Accra, Ghana.

Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez is the holder of the award which he won after winning the 2016 Premier League title with Leicester City. He is, however, missing from the shortlist.



Victor Moses
Moses makes the 30-man shortlist for the African Player of the Year following his exploits for Chelsea in the year under review.
The 27-year-old was an influential part of Antonio Conte’s team that won the 2017 Premier League title.



Moses made 22 consecutive Premier League starts from September 2016 to April 2017. 28 starts and 33 league appearances in total last season.

He is the Nigerian player with the most Premier League appearances for a title-winning team ever.
Moses also helped Nigeria seal qualification to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
William Troost-Ekong

Troost-Ekong had a good year impressing for Norwegian side FK Haugesund and the Super Eagles. He now plays his football in Turkey with Bursaspor.

In the year under review, Troost-Ekong established himself as a Super Eagles regular and played a crucial role in Nigeria’s qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Moses and Troost-Ekong will be hoping to make it to the final shortlist for the African Player of the Year award.
No Nigerian has made the final three of the award since 2013 when John Mikel Obi finished second. Nigeria have not had a winner of the award in 18 years-Kanu Nwankwo won the 1999 edition.

Also in the list are Cameroon’s Christian Bassogog who led the Indomitable Lions to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title, Mohamed Salah who scored two goals as Egypt got the final of the 2017 AFCON and helped Roma to a second-place Serie A finish with 87 points, their highest so far in history even more than 75 they got when they last won the Serie A title in 2001.