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The African FA have reduced their shortlist of players nominated for the title African Footballer of the Year down from thirty to ten. Both André Onana and Hakim Ziyech of Ajax are still on the list!
The Cameroonian goalkeeper and the Moroccan midfielder have some heavy opposition. Some of the other nominees are Sadio Mané (Senegal) and Mohamed Salah (Egypt) of Liverpool and Riyad Mahrez (Algeria) of Manchester City. Those three seem like the biggest candidates for the title. Mané and Salah have won the Champions League and Mahrez won the Premier League with City and the African Cup with Algeria. Mohamed Salah won the prize in the last two years.
On 7 January 2020, it will be announced who is allowed to call himself the best African football player of 2019. At this election, all national coaches and captains of the country teams that play under the flag of the African Football Federation will be able to cast their votes.
The ten nominees
André Onana (Ajax)
Hakim Ziyech (Ajax)
Ismaël Bennacer (AC Milan)
Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli)
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
Odion Ighalo (Shanghai Greenland Shenhua FC)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal)
Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)
Sadio Mané (Liverpool)
Youcef Belaili (Ahli Jeddah)
Just yesterday was the award ceremony of the Ballon D’or, the prize for the best footballer in the world. Where Mané finished 4th, Salah 5th and Mahrez 10th, both Ziyech and Onana weren’t even nominated.