AjanleKoko:

There is no mediocrity in selecting a player who plays in Africa as the best African player on the planet.
Last year's award was won by Yaya Toure, whose national team didn't win the African Cup of Nations, and his club crashed out of all continental competitions.
In contrast, Oussema Daragi from Esperance, who was selected as the top African player playing on the continent, played and even scored in the FIFA Club World Cup in 2011. His club won a treble in Africa - domestic league in Tunisia, Tunisian Federation Cup, and the Champions League.

Who should such players not be placed side by side with their European counterparts? Just look at this year's selection; it includes Toure again, and Song, who has not won any title either in Europe or with his national side. How is that not mediocrity?

Jarus:
Oh, I just saw Katongo is not on that list. I had presumed he was going to be no 1.
Oh, that doesnt encourage or appreciate national team performance, which CAF as continental body, should encourage. This was a man that was pivotal to Zambia winning the last Nations cup, edgeing along the was Drogba's CIV and Ayew's Ghana. No, this is not right. When I had thought this was a straight fight between Katongo (ANC Champs) and Drogba(UCL champs.

Now, it is all too easy to know Drogba will win this giving the distance between him and these 4 other guys. Song should have given way for Katongo.

Intrepid!:
Mikel... A midfielder that played over 1,000,000 games last year and didn't bag one goal or one assist. You don't win awards by passing sideways. His inclusion in the original list was unmerited sef.

SmoothLIFE: John Mikel Obi's stats so far this year!
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player/_/id/60503/john-mikel-obi-obi-mikel?cc=5901

Obi has not scored a single goal in the EPL in his whole time there.

Would you not be ashamed to call such a player African player of the year

Best player in Europe: Ronaldo
Best player in South America: Messi
Best player in North/Central America: Chicarito
Best player in Asia: Kagawa

Sagamite:

Scoring goals does not mean shyt to me, if he is the heart beat of the team or a critical component. He is not!

If Makelele was African and voted AFoY when he was at his peak, I would approve despite him not even being capable of scoring a penalty kick with no keeper in goal.

Akposkool: Ayew n song?i laugh at caf.that moroccan played better dan ayew in france,and he won ligue 1 for lille.if song is there,definitely mikel should be there as well.song played nothing last year when [b]mikel was bossing the midfield against barca and bayern munich.[/b]this caf is bias.demba ba played well till cisse came and stole the show.my final 3 should be,drogba,toure n mikel.

mumumugu:

he had an asist 4 anelka

salolo: What a pity

black-Light:
wow..3 ivorians? this shows that ivory coast is the new giant of africa when it comes to football.... well nigeria shall rise again when are develop talented boiz and not boiz that are just in for the money

DailyNews: I was expecting Mikel to be on the final list because he has greatly improved, now pushes the game forward and making attempts to score...now I am pissed...sighs

Nnamdini: are you kidding me?mikel may have won the champions league but he did so parking the bus with chelsea but song did much better wit goals & assist for arsenal.gues who went to barca?song

Sagamite:

I am not saying if a "local" player is selected, that is automatically mediocrity selection. I am saying, on average, the "local" players are mediocre when compared to foreign-based ones. They are technically unrefined and normally not good enough to attract the attention of top clubs.

If you have a local player that scored over 30 goals in one season or was the heart and soul of his team and won domestic and continental competitions which resulted in interest from abroad to sign for a big club, obviously I would be shocked if that person does not enter the top shortlist for AFoY. But that is a rarity, the European clubs poach the best players early and the best players themselves are quite keen to move asap in their career.

Yaya Toure is a world class player and the engine of one of the biggest clubs in the world. He is technically and mentally astute and plays at the highest level with and against the best in the world, yet he shines more than them, he merited the award. I am not of the camp that only people that are in teams that win something that are good. Messi has never won the WC but IMO is the greatest player ever. Gabriel Batistuta never won the Serie A when he was in Fiorentina, but he was one of the most potent strikers in the World when he was in that club. George Best barely won much competitions in his career but I am sure he is regarded as far better than Gary Neville that won something virtually every year. I judge players by their abilities, level they play at and their influence in their team. That automatically qualifies Yaya and Drogba.

I am not particularly impressed with the list myself, hence my first comment on this thread. It seems the individual quality of african players have gone down if Demba Ba and Andre Ayew are one of our best.

Sagamite:

You will be surprised you don't have to score to be a good player.

Get better criteria to make your point.

Wiz-Prince:
These guys vote anyhow and who they like, if not Mikel Played Very Good More Than Song, Ayew, Demba Ba, even Yaya Toure.... They Must Look Through What They Played Last Season and their Archievements..

ALL THIS THINGS NA PASHIER.... E NO GOOD..

niyooah: Na wa 4 CAF! Not even one prayer from one of their Major tournament (Nation Cup) No single Zambia player or from the winner of CAF champions league. Invariable they are saying the African league and their own major competition do not have an impact in this award selection. Kudos to they technical team [color=#006600][/color]

AjanleKoko:

Take a look at these two lists, and spot the difference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Footballer_of_the_Year

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAF_Awards

I'm sure there are lots of Asian players in Europe. Interesting that they don't seem to dominate the honor roll.

AjanleKoko:
My point is, the CAF awards should be a platform to promote local players, and not the other way round.

AjanleKoko:
If Yaya Toure and Drogba are that good, they should be in the running for the Ballon D'Or. Drogba is in the Top 10. He can win the CAF award, but he shouldn't go up against only players playing in Europe. Let him be measured against all African players who have excelled in 2012, regardless of where they are playing. That is how the awards should be structured.

You can't tell me that a player who won virtually all the competitions he played in, in the year under review, be dropped for a player like Song,that didn't win anything, simply because he played for a club on the African continent. It makes no sense.

Nashoji: you need all the necessary criteria for you to be qualified for the award and not by passing the ball sideways and backwards. Assist and goals are very important.

DailyNews: Dede Ayew, Demba Ba, Didier Drogba, Alex Song and Yaya Toure are the final five nominees for the Confederation of African Football's Player of the Year award.

Ivory Coast and Manchester City's Toure won the accolade last year.

Caf initially named 34 players who they were considering for the award before cutting that down to 10 names.

The final nominees were decided by votes from the head coaches and technical directors of the football associations affiliated to Caf.

The 2012 Caf African Footballer of the Year will be crowned at an awards ceremony in the Ghana capital, Accra, on 20 December.


What happened to our own Chelsea Midfielder, John Mikel Obi

BBC Sports.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20463587

DailyNews: Dede Ayew, Demba Ba, Didier Drogba, Alex Song and Yaya Toure are the final five nominees for the Confederation of African Football's Player of the Year award.

Ivory Coast and Manchester City's Toure won the accolade last year.

Caf initially named 34 players who they were considering for the award before cutting that down to 10 names.

The final nominees were decided by votes from the head coaches and technical directors of the football associations affiliated to Caf.

The 2012 Caf African Footballer of the Year will be crowned at an awards ceremony in the Ghana capital, Accra, on 20 December.


What happened to our own Chelsea Midfielder, John Mikel Obi

BBC Sports.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20463587

Red-Light:
wow..3 ivorians? this shows that ivory coast is the new giant of africa when it comes to football.... well nigeria shall rise again when are develop talented boiz and not boiz that are just in for the money

mama-gee:
No nigerian player deserves it!!!

I think the award might go to Didier Drogba