Ghana international Sammy Kuffour believes his performances last year were good enough to win him the African Footballer of the Year award.

Apart from former Cameroon goalkeeper Thomas Nkono, the awards have always been an exclusive preserve of strikers, but defender Kuffour is hoping that will change.

Kuffour is one of the three nominees for the award. The others are Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o and Senegal's El Hadj Diouf - both forwards.

But the Bayern Munich defender is confident he will be the winner, saying: "My performances for both country and club were good enough. The others vying for the title are extremely talented players, but I honestly believe I could win it."

Kuffour won the UEFA Champions League with Bayern Munich in May last year and scored the club's winning goal in the Intercontinental Cup match in Japan a few months later.

He has, however, also had some low points on the international front, missing World Cup qualification with Ghana and being thrown out of the national team during the African Nations Cup in Mali in January.