Former Super Eagles captain, Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha is part of an 11-man panel that selected the nominees for The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2017 award.

The panel, which includes Argentina legend Diego Maradona and Brazil’s Cafu, has compiled a 23-man shortlist for the award, according to a statement on Fifa website.

The shortlist will now be made public on Thursday, August 17 by Fifa.

From the final shortlist, key members of the footballing community – journalists, fans, national team coaches and captains – will vote for the winner, with the final three nominees to be announced at a later date.
Nominees in other categories that will also be decided on Thursday are Best FIFA Women’s Coach, Best FIFA Men’s Coach and Best FIFA Women’s Player.

The 11-man panel to select The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2017 award shortlist includes: Cafú (Brazil), Landon Donovan (USA), Enzo Francescoli (Uruguay), Alex Frei (Switzerland), Hidetoshi Nakata (Japan), Diego Maradona (Argentina), Austin Okocha (Nigeria), Carles Puyol (Spain), Carlos Valderrama (Colombia), Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands) and Ivan Vicelich (New Zealand).

The ceremony where the winners of the awards will be crowned, which will be the second edition of The Best FIFA Football Awards™, will take place in London on Monday, October 23, 2017.

It would be recalled that Portuguese forward, Cristiano Ronaldo, was named the Best FIFA Men’s Player in the maiden edition of the awards last year in Zurich.