The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced the 10 final nominees for the 2019 African Player of the Year award, and Nigerian striker, Odion Ighalo made a cut.
Ighalo, who plays as a striker for Chinese club Shanghai Greenland Shenhua will battle for the award with Cameroon’s Andre Onana, A, Morocco’s Hakim Zach, Algeria’s Ismail Ben Nacer, Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Algeria’s Riad Mehrez and Youcef Beliali, Senegal’s Sadio Mane and Kalidou Koulibaly with previous winner, Mohammed Salah of Egypt.
The shortlist of nominees was decided upon by votes from a CAF Technical & Development Committee and a panel of media experts with an emphasis on the nominees’ performance during the year under review, 2019.
The winner will be announced during the CAF Awards ceremony on Tuesday, 7 January 2020, at the Albatros Citadel Sahl Hasheesh, Hurghada, Egypt.
Salah won the African Player of the Year award two times in 2018 and 2017. But his Liverpool teammate and Senegalese superstar, Sadio Mane is favourite to win the award next year. EX