Nigeria and Chelsea FC of England footballers, John Mikel Obi and Victor Moses (albeit on a brief loan deal at Liverpool) have been named in the five-man shortlist for the 2013 BBC African Footballer of the Year award.
Also listed for the award, which was revealed on the BBC’s Newsday programme, are current African Footballer of the Year award holder Yaya Toure of Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso’s Jonathan Pitroipa and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Gabon.
The list was drawn up by 44 journalists across Africa and the winner, to be determined by a vote by African football fans until 18:00 GMT on 25th November 2013, will be announced on Monday, 2nd December 2013 at 17:35 GMT on the BBC’s Focus on Africa radio and television programmes.
While Obi and Moses shone in the Chelsea team that won the Europa League last season as well as the Nigerian team that won the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in February, 24-year-old Aubameyang finished the 2012-13 season with 19 goals for St-Etienne and the second highest goal scorer in France only behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic. These goals helped the club win the French Cup, and they have also been flowing at his new Bundesliga club, Borrusia Dortmund, where he has scored seven goals in 11 games.
Twenty-seven-year-old Pitroipa was named AFCON player of the tournament as Burkina Faso reached the final, while Toure is an ever-present rock in the midfields of both the Ivoirian national team and dethroned English Premier League winners Manchester City.