Uganda’s captain Denis Onyango has been included on both shortlists for the AITECO CAF African Player of the Year and the Player of the Year (Based in Africa) awards.
The Mamelodi Sundowns skipper has been in sublime form for his club and country and remains the only player based on the continent to make the cut for Player of the Year.
The shot-stopper who won the Player of the Year (based in Africa) prize last year will be going against notable names like Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Saido Mane, RB Leipzig’s Naby Keita, Borussia Dortmund’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Chelsea’s Victor Moses.
Asisat Oshoala returns after winning African Women’s Player of the Year 2016, a no surprise for the African Women’s Footballer and Youth Player of the Year 2014, BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year 2015, and now the Chinese Women’s Super League Top Scorer 2017.
The 23-year-old Nigerian professional footballer has made remarkable strides since earning herself best player after finishing as the highest goal scorer at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. She was also named best player and the second top goalscorer with the Super Falcons team winners of the 2014 African Women’s Championship.
Among the finalists are Egypt, Cameroon, and Nigeria who will battle it out for Team of the year, while Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe tussle it out for Female Team of the Year. Nigeria’s Gernot Rohr, Egypt’s Hector Cuper also made the shortlist for Manager of the Year after their World Cup success but will have to face off with Cameroon’s Hugo Broos who also won the African Cup of Nations.
The shortlist was cut from 30 to 11 players after tallying votes from Head Coaches or Technical Directors of the National Associations and the selected ten members from the Independent Media and TV Consultants group.
Changes have been made to this year’s final voting, giving captains of the senior men’s national teams from the affiliated National Associations a first chance to vote for the African Player of the Year and Player of the Year (Based in Africa).
The Awards Gala will take place on Thursday, 4 January 2018 in Accra, Ghana.
The full list of nominees:
African Player of the year.
Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso & Olympique Lyon)
Denis Onyango (Uganda & Mamelodi Sundowns)
Karim El Ahmadi (Morocco & Feyenoord)
Keita Balde (Senegal & Monaco)
Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool)
Naby Keita (Guinea & RB Leipzig)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon & B. Dortmund)
Sadio Mane (Senegal & Liverpool)
Victor Moses (Nigeria & Chelsea)
Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon & Porto)
Yacine Brahimi (Algeria & Porto)
African Player of the Year – Based in Africa
Achraf Bencharki (Morocco & Wydad Athletic Club)
Ahmed Fathi (Egypt & Al Ahly)
Ali Maaloul (Tunisia & Al Ahly)
Aristide Bance (Burkina Faso & El Masry)
Ben Malango (DR Congo & TP Mazembe)
Denis Onyango (Uganda & Mamelodi Sundowns)
Jeremy Brockie (New Zealand & Supersport)
Junior Ajayi (Nigeria & Al Ahly)
Mohamed Ounnajem (Morocco & Wydad Athletic Club)
Taha Yassine Khenisssi (Tunisia & Esperance)
Women’s Player of the Year
Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria & Dalian Quanjian)
Christina Kgatlana (South Africa & UWC Ladies)
Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene(Cameroon & CSKA Moscow)
Rutendo Makore (Zimbabwe & Black Rhinos)
Tabitha Chawinga (Malawi & Kvarnsvedens)
Women’s National Team of the Year
Ghana U-20
Kenya
Nigeria U-20
South Africa
Zimbabwe
Coach of the Year
Gernot Rohr (Nigeria)
Hector Cuper (Egypt)
Hugo Broos (Cameroon)
L’Hussein Amoutta (Wydad Athletic Club)
Mihayo Kazembe (TP Mazembe)
National Team of the Year
Cameroon
Egypt
Mali U-17
Nigeria
Zambia U-20
Club of the Year
Al Ahly
Mbabane Swallows
SuperSport United
TP Mazembe
Wydad Athletic Club
Youth Player of the Year
Eric Ayiah (Ghana & Charity Stars)
Krepin Diatta (Senegal &Sarpsborg)
Luther Singh (South Africa & Braga)
Patson Daka (Zambia & Liefering)
Salam Giddou (Mali & Guidars)
Referee of the Year
Bamlak Tessema (Ethiopia)
Ghead Grisha (Egypt)
Janny Sikazwe (Zambia)
Malang Diedhiou (Senegal)
Mehdi Abid Charef (Algeria)
Papa Bakary Gassama (Gambia)
