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Top Five African Player Of The Year Shortlist Revealed For 2016 Award

Top Five African Player Of The Year Shortlist Revealed For 2016 Award

The African Player of the Year shortlist has been reduced to a selection of the top five nominees for the 2016 award.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) revealed the five players this week, choosing them from the original list of 30 players announced last month.

The five players still in the running for the award are current African Player of the Year from Gabon, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Borussia Dortmund, Leicester City’s Algerian pair of Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani, Liverpool’s Senegalese striker Sadio Mane and Egyptian striker for Serie A side Roma, Mohamed Salah.

Striker Slimani represented Sporting Lisbon in Portugal last season, before transferring to English Premier League champions Leicester City in the recent market window. Mane was with Southampton before making his move to Liverpool in the European summer.

Mahrez was instrumental in Leicester City winning the English Premier League, while Aubameyang has been in incredible form for his German club over the course of 2016.

Salah has been a breakthrough star for the club from the Italian capital, and all five nominees have contributed for their national teams in Africa.

Voting will now begin to determine the eventual winner of the award, which will be announced on Thursday, January 5 at the Glo-CAF 2016 Awards Gala in Abuja, Nigeria.

Alongside the African Player of the Year award, the African Player of the Year based in Africa accolade has also been whittled down to five nominees, with four of them coming from CAF Champions League winners from South Africa, Mamelodi Sundowns, while the other potential winner is Rainford Kalaba of CAF Confederation Cup champions TP Mazembe.

 

The CAF 2016 African Player of the Year shortlist:

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon & Borrusia Dortmund)

Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Leicester City)

Sadio Mane (Senegal & Liverpool)

Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Roma)

Islam Slimani (Algeria & Leicester City)

German Bundesliga
Aubameyang is the current African Player of the Year – en.starafrica.com

The CAF African Player of the Year (Based in Africa) shortlist:

Khama Billiat (Mamelodi Sundowns & Zimbabwe)

Keegan Dolly (Mamelodi Sundowns & South Africa)

Rainford Kalaba (TP Mazembe & Zambia)

Hlompho Kekana (Mamelodi Sundowns & South Africa)

Denis Onyango (Mamelodi Sundowns & Uganda)

Club World Cup participants - Mamelodi Sundowns enjoying success this season. Photo: kickoff.com
Mamelodi Sundowns enjoying success this season. Photo: kickoff.com