Nigeria only representative at the Aiteo-Confederation of African Football (Caf) Award ten-man short-list Victor Moses has been struck out of the final top three.
The Chelsea regular was listed among the last ten for the most prestigious category of the Caf awards alongside Salah, Mane, and Aubameyang.
The sensational wing-back has been touted as one of the favorites to clinch the award following his spectacular form in helping Chelsea to a Premier League title last season.
However, in a Caf Press conference held on Monday, December 18, Moses, who turned 27 last week, had his name omitted from the final three-man list.
Caf president Ahmad Ahmad made the announcement during the Press conference on Monday and Moses name was clearly missing.
Ahmad also announced the names of nominees for other categories of the Aiteo-Caf awards which will be staged in January in Ghana.
Predictably, for the fourth year running, Gabon star Aubameyang is in the final three again.
The 28-year-old is joined by runaway favorite Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah who is widely touted to win the prize, having the clinch the BBC Player of the Year Award.
Also in the final three is Salah’s Liverpool teammate and Senegal’s Sadio Mane in the men’s category of the award which will be staged in Accra on Thursday, January 4.
The winners of each award will be decided by votes from the head coaches and Technical Directors of the National Associations affiliated to Caf.
Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala remains the favourite for the Women’s Player of the Year and she is in the shortlist alongside Christina Kgatlana (South Africa & UWC Ladies) and Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene(Cameroon & CSKA Moscow).
Nigeria Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr is a finalist for the Coach of the Year, alongside his Egyptian counterpart Hector Cuper (Egypt) and Wydad Athletic Club boss L’Hussein Amoutta.
In other categories,
Nigeria’s Men’s National Team and U20 Women’s National Team have been shortlisted for National Team of the Year and Women’s National Team of the Year respectively.
