Nigerian winger Moses Simon has been nominated for the Confederation of Africa Football’s Men’s Player of The Year award for 2021/22, PUNCH Sports Extra report.
But there was no place for Africa’s most expensive signing Victor Osimhen, despite his goals for both the Super Eagles and Napoli.
The list, covering performances from September 2021 until June this year, was decided by a panel of CAF legends, technical experts and journalists.
The 26-year-old Simon won the Coupe de France with Nantes last season and was impressive for the Eagles at the delayed 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
He also starred for the Eagles, scoring a goal and providing two assists, as they kicked off their 2023 AFCON qualifiers on a winning note against Sierra Leone and Sao Tome.
The former Levante winger is up against Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Saido Mane (Senegal), who won the last edition back in 2019.
Others nominated for the award is Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez, a Premier League winner with Manchester City, while also prominent on the list are two of Africa’s traditionally weaker nations, The Gambia and Comoros, with rare representations in the shape of Musa Barrow and Youssouf M’Changama respectively.
African champions Senegal have the most nominees on the list with four others joining Mane – Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, Leicester City midfielder Nampalys Mendy, Saliou Ciss and Kalidou Koulibaly.
Also named are Ivoirian Serie A winner Franck Kessie, PSG’s Moroccan Achraf Hakimi and Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar, who became the first player to score eight goals at a single Nations Cup in over half a century.
CAF also released its lists for several other men’s categories, including Coach of the Year and Young Player award, which had another Nigerian Akinkumi Amoo shortlisted.
The winners of each category will be decided by a voting panel made up of CAF’s technical committee, media professionals and head coaches and captains of member associations and clubs involved in the group stages of continental competitions.
