Sports News of Tuesday, 12 December 2017

Source: ghanasoccernet.com

CAF to reveal Africa best player top-three in Accra next week

Salah and Mane have both been shortlisted for Africa's Best player Salah and Mane have both been shortlisted for Africa's Best player

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will reveal the final three-man shortlist for the 2017 African Footballer of the Year award in Ghana next week.

A press conference will be held at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra on Monday, 18th December at 10am to reveal the names of the players who have made the final shortlist.

CAF President Ahmad Ahmad and other leading members of the continent’s football governing body will attend the event along with the new sponsors of the awards ceremony, Aiteo.

Eleven players were shortlisted for the flagship award for African football last month and the number will be pruned down to three.

Bertrand Traore of Burkina Faso, Uganda goalkeeper Denis Onyango, Morocco’s Karim El Ahmadi and Senegalese duo of Keita Balde and Sadio Mane were among those in the ten-man shortlist.

Egypt playmaker Mohamed Salah, Guinean ace Naby Keita, Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Nigerian winger Victor Moses, Vincent Aboubakar of Cameroon and Algeria’s Yacine Brahimi were also named in the first shortlist.

Votes were gathered from members of the CAF Technical and Development Committee, CAF Media Experts Panel and Independent Media and TV Consultants to form the 10-man shortlist.

The second and final phase of the voting will involve Head Coaches or Technical Directors of the National Associations alongside ten members from the Independent Media and TV Consultants group.

For the first time, captains of the senior men’s national teams of the affiliated National Associations would also take part in decision making process of the African Player of the Year and Player of the Year (Based in Africa).

The winner of the award will be named at the AITEO CAF awards 2017 ceremony be held in Accra on 4th January 2018.