Moses Simon Is The Only Nigerian Player To Make The 30-Man Nominees For The CAF Men's Player Of The Year.

The Confederation Of African Football (CAF) has on Thursday released a 30-player nominees from 13 countries contending to sit on the throne of African football.

Super Eagles forward Moses Simon, who currently plays for Ligue 1 club side FC Nantes is the only Nigerian player nominated for the African Player of the Year 2022.

Simon played a vital role last season for Nantes, as they finished ninth in the Ligue 1 and won the Coupe de France after beating Nice in the final.

The 26-year-old ex-Levante man scored six goals and created eight assists in 30 Ligue 1 games last season.

He has scored 7 goals in 53 appearances for the Super Eagles since making his debut in 2015.

The shortlist also includes Sadio Mane, Mo Salah and Riyad Mahrez respectively.

Senegal who emerged champions of the 2021 Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON) in February has the highest nominees with five players from the squad.

Egypt and Morocco has four players nominated each, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali has three players, two players from Ivory Coast, while Nigeria, Algeria,  Comoros, Guinea, Gambia, and Tunisia has one players each in the shortlist.

READ MORE: Fans Reactions As Victor Osimhen And Other Nigerian Players Miss Out At The CAF Awards Nominations List.

Meanwhile, Akinkunmi Amoo is the only promising Nigerian player to be named among the 10 players nominated for the CAF Young Player of the Year award 2022. 

The 20-year-old joined Danish giants FC Copenhagen on a five year deal early this year from Swedish side Hammarby where he won the Svenska Cupen in 2020.

READ MORE: Fans Reactions As Victor Osimhen And Other Nigerian Players Miss Out At The CAF Awards Nominations List.

The prestigious CAF Awards ceremony will hold in Rabat, Morocco on Thursay 21st July, 2022.

Captains and Coaches of the member associations, selected journalists, CAF technical study group and CAF legends will decide the winner of the different categories.

The period under review is from September 2021 until June 2022.

There will be several categories to be presented including the Player of the Year (Men and Women), which Senegal’s Sadio Mane and Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala won the awards at the last edition held in 2019 at Hurghada in Egypt.

Other categories include; Interclub Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year, National Team of the Year, Coach of the Year, Club of the Year and Goal of the Year.

Below is the Full 30-man Nominees for the Best Player Of The Year:

• Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Manchester City)

• Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso & Aston Villa)

• Blati Toure (Burkina Faso & Pyramids)

• Edmund Tapsoba (Burkina Faso & Bayer Leverkusen)

• Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Cameroon & Napoli)

• Karl Toko Ekambi (Cameroon & Lyon)

• Vincent Aboubacar (Cameroon & Al Nassr)

• Youssouf M'Changama (Comoros & Guingamp)

• Franck Kessie (Cote d’Ivoire & AC Milan)

• Sebastien Haller (Cote d’Ivoire & Ajax)

• Mohamed Abdelmonem (Egypt & Al Ahly)

• Mohamed ElNeny (Egypt & Arsenal)

• Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool)

• Mohamed Shenawy (Egypt & Al Ahly)

• Musa Barrow (Gambia & Bologna)

• Naby Keita (Guinea & Liverpool)

• Aliou Dieng (Mali & Al Ahly)

• Hamari Traore (Mali & Rennes)

• Yves Bissouma (Mali & Tottenham)

• Achraf Hakimi (Morocco & PSG)

• Sofiane Boufal (Morocco & Angers)

• Yahya Jabrane (Morocco & Wydad Athletic Club)

• Yassine Bounou (Morocco & Sevilla)

• Moses Simon (Nigeria & Nantes)

• Edouard Mendy (Senegal & Chelsea)

• Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal & Napoli)

• Nampalys Mendy (Senegal & Leicester City)

• Sadio Mane (Senegal & Bayern Munich)

• Saliou Ciss (Senegal & Nancy)

• Ali Maaloul (Tunisia & Al Ahly).