Moses Simon, Akinwunmi Only Nigerians in CAF Awards Short-list

Duro Ikhazuagbe

Super Eagles winger, Moses Simon and Akinwunmi Amao, are the only two Nigerians nominated in a 60-man shortlist for individual awards in the 2022 CAF Awards released yesterday. Winners will be announced at the CAF Awards 2022 slated to hold on 21 July 2022 in Rabat, Morocco.

Simon who created sensation in the group stage of the 2021 AFCON in Cameroon as Super Eagles raced to the Round of 16 before crashing out to Tunisia, is the only Nigerian senior player shortlisted for the African Footballer of the Year Award for 2021-22 previously won by the likes of Rashidi Yekini, Emmanuel Amuneke, Victor Ikpeba and Nwankwo Kanu.

The Nantes of France player linked to several English Premier League clubs only this week agreed personal terms with Ligue 1 club OGC Nice.

His club FC Nantes have already said they will not stand in the way of the winger should they receive an “interesting” offer for him.

Former Liverpool team-mates, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah (both 30 years olds) were named in the list of 30 nominees for the Men’s Player of the Year award.

Mane, who joined German champions Bayern Munich last week, had the upper hand over Salah at international level in recent months, with Senegal beating Egypt in the AFCON final last February before winning their 2022 World Cup play-off tie a month after. He’s favorite to pick the away .

The Senegalese is the last man to have been crowned Africa’s best, back in 2019 before Coronavirus knocked off the award amongst other sports awards.

Amao who plays for FC Copenhagen, was listed in the 10-man shortlist for CAF’s Young Player of the Year category.

Nominees in the women’s category have not been released yet even as speculations are rife that Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala may pick the award for a record fifth time as Africa’s best female footballer.

In the National Team of the Year category, Nigeria’s Super Eagles were glaring omitted in the 10 nominees even as Comoros, The Gambia and Equatorial Guinea made the cut.

According to the press statement by CAF, a stakeholder panel made up of Technical Experts, CAF Legends and Journalists decided on the list for the various categories taking into the consideration the performance of the nominee from September 2021 till June 2022 at all levels.

NOMINEES FOR THE PLAYER OF THE YEAR CATEGORY