Following the release by the
Confederation of African Football (CAF)
of the list of Top 10 African players who
are in contention for the 2013 African
Footballer of the Year Award, football
pundits have been making various
permutations on who the likely winner
will be. Expectations are high on who
should be the next King of African
football with different analysts around
and beyond the continent advancing
varied justifications for their preferred
candidate. Who deserves to wear the
crown? Will it be John Mikel Obi or the
reigning African Footballer of the Year
Yaya Toure? Or will it be Asamoah
Gyan or Didier Drogba? Who out of the
ten will be unveiled as the king of the
continent’s football at the 2013 Glo CAF
Awards Gala Night holding at the
Convention Centre, Eko Hotel and
Suites, Lagos on 9 January, 2014. We
hereby present the top 10 as released
by CAF. Who really are the top ten?
Vincent Enyeama
Record-breaking Nigerian goalkeeper,
Vincent Enyeama can easily be dubbed
the shot-stopper.
He was born on August 29, 1982 and
currently plays for Lille FC in France.
The achievement of Nigeria in football
in the last decade cannot be complete
without mentioning the name of
Enyeama.
He was named the safest pair of hands
as Nigeria won the continental crown in
South Africa earlier in the year.
He also made a name for himself with
Lille in the French Ligue 1 where they
nick-named him “Jesus in goal” as he
did not concede any goal from
September 15 to December 7;
maintaining an eye-popping 11 clean
sheets from 16 games and 1035
minutes in total.
John Mikel Obi
Chelsea and Nigeria midfielder, John
Obi Mikel was born on April 22, 1987.
Mikel is enjoying probably his best
moment in football. A regular with the
star-studded Chelsea, he played an
influential role in the build-up to the
2012 UEFA Champions League crown.
He also won the Europa Cup with
Chelsea in 2013. Also, he netted a
cracker against Uruguay at the FIFA
Confederations Cup in Brazil in July.
His efforts in the season were crowned
with a gold medal with the Super Eagles
at the last Africa Cup of Nations.
He was also instrumental to Nigeria’s
qualification for the 2014 FIFA World
Cup. Indeed, football analysts say that
it is only the current African Player of
the Year Yaya Toure that can stand
between Mikel and the crown.
Didier Drogba
Born in Cote d’Ivoire on March 11,
1978, Didier Drogba plies his trade in
Turkey where he plays for Galatasaray.
He earlier played for Olympic Marseilles
in France and Chelsea FC of London
where he won the Champions League in
2012.
At 35, Drogba is yet to lose his football
skills, scoring three goals as the
Elephants reached a third successive
World Cup appearance.
The striker has bounced back from a
disappointing spell in China and has
been banging in the goals in Turkey. He
scored five in 13 appearances during
Galatasaray’s triumph in the 2012-13
season.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Gabonese Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
is currently playing for Borussia
Dortmund in Germany.
He was born on June 18, 1989. He was
on target three times for Gabon (a hat-
trick against Niger) during the 2014 FIFA
World Cup qualifiers as Les Panthers
failed to reach the playoffs.
He has however been in superb form at
club level. He emerged second top
scorer in Ligue 1 with 19 goals during
the 2012-13 season, and also guided
Saint Etienne to the Coupe de La Ligue
(French League Cup).
In July, he joined German side Borussia
Dortmund and has scored eight times
in all appearances.
Ahmed Musa
Ahmed Musa, born on 14 October 1992
in Jos, is a Nigerian player who plays as
forward for Russian club CSKA Moscow.
Musa was one of the four nominees
named for the Confederation of African
Football Most Promising Talent Award
in 2011.
However the award went to Souleymane
Coulibaly.
After an impressive outing at the Africa
Nations Cup in South Africa, Musa also
helped Nigeria to book a place at the
2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Emmanuel Emenike
Nigerian Emmanuel Emenike plays for
Fenerbahce in Turkey. He was born on
10th May, 1987. He recently played for
Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine before
exploring his fortune in Fenerbahce.
Emenike is currently Nigeria’s most
reliable attacker. He scored four goals
at the Africa Cup of Nations in South
Africa where the Super Eagles emerged
champions.
He also has helped Nigeria to book a
place in next year’s World Cup, scoring
thrice in the process.
Jonathan Pitroipa
Burkina Faso-born Jonathan Pitroipa is
a regular member of Stade Rennes FC of
France.
He was the star of the Burkina Faso
team that reached the final of the 2013
Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.
He was adjudged the Most Valuable
Player of the tournament.
He also scored three times in Burkina
Faso’s run to the World Cup playoffs
and has made 10 appearances in the
current season for Stade Rennes but
yet to score.
Asamoah Gyan
Asamoah Gyan, born 22 November 1985
in Accra, is a Ghanaian footballer who
plays as a striker for Al Ain of the UAE
Pro-League.
Gyan represented Ghana at the 2006
and 2010 FIFA World Cups, scoring
three goals at the latter, and also
missing a crucial penalty kick in the last
minute of extra-time in a quarter-final
defeat by Uruguay.
Despite Ghana’s fourth place at the
2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South
Africa, Gyan made the championship’s
Best XI and he is the all-time top scorer
for Ghana.
Mohammed Aboutreika
One outstanding accomplishment of
ageless Mohamed Aboutreika is that he
is gunning for both the global African
Player of the Year and the African-
Based African Player of the Year
Awards.
He plays in Africa and has led his club
to win many continental laurels. He
was born in Egypt in November 7, 1978
and plays for Egyptian top club, Al Ahly.
Aboutreika is at the twilight of his
career, yet, he has proved again that he
is nowhere near the finish line.
With Ahly, he was the pivot as the
Egyptian giants retained the CAF
Champions League title, scoring in both
legs in the final. He scored five times in
the campaign as Ahly cruised to an
unprecedented eighth title despite the
absence of a football competition in
Egypt in two years.
Yaya Toure
Reigning African Player of the Year Yaya
Toure is from Cote d’Ivoire. He was
born on May 13, 1983.
The Manchester City of England player
won the last two editions of the African
Player of the Year Award and he is still
at his peak.
He scored two goals including a
spectacular free-kick against Tunisia at
the group stage of the last Africa Cup of
Nations.
Thoughthe Elephants failed to go past
the quarter final, he was the pillar of
the Ivorian team in the 2014 World Cup
qualifiers, netting four goals in the
process.
At Manchester City, he is a cult figure
and has been the driving force for the
club. For the current 2013-14 season,
the midfielder has found the back of
the net five times in 11 games.

N o n s e n s e

Give it to Vincent and let's close that chapter.

yaya toure no sentments