GLO-CAF Awards Adebayor out, Drogba, Essien and Eto'o to battle for supremacy

The reigning African Footballer of the Year, Togo and Manchester City forward, Emmanuel Adebayor did not make the top five nominations for the 2009 Glo-CAF Awards. Two former winners, Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba of Chelsea, and Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon, however made it to the top five of the nominations announced in Lagos on Thursday.

Players from the European Champions League winner, Barcelona of Spain, dominated the list, with Ivory Coast's Yaya Toure and Mali's Seydou Keita joining the contenders for the prestigious award.

Ghana's Michael Essien won his fifth consecutive nomination to the top five, though he has never won the award.

The names of nominees for the Glo-CAF Player of the Year was announced in alphabetical order by CAF Communication's Director, Suleiman Habuba, and unlike the last edition, players competing in the African Clubs Championships failed to make the cut-off.

For Keita and Toure, who helped Barcelona of Spain to win the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League, it was their first nomination to the top bracket. Habuba said the short-listed names had been forwarded to the National Coaches of CAF member nations, for the final selection of the winner, which will be announced at the Award's gala scheduled for Dakar, Senegal on February 25, 2010.

Eto'o, who had a stormy transfer to Inter Milan from Barcelona, is making a come-back to the top five, after missing out in last year's nominations due to injury that sidelined him for most of the 2007/08 European season.

The Cameroonian hit fine form for Barcelona in the last European Champions League, which the club won, and also for the Indomitable Lions in the run-up to the 2010 Nations Cup and World Cup finals.

Suleiman said the nominations were made in conformity with the highest standards of transparency and merit, and praised Globacom for providing a platform to celebrate African football, noting: "all the nominees are world class players who have contributed to the successes of their clubs and country." Mr. Adewale Sangowawa, Globacom's Executive Director, Human Resources, said the company conferred recognition, prestige and honour on African players through the sponsorship of the awards ceremony.

This, he said, explains the decision of CAF to offer Globacom another five years of a sponsorship deal for the awards.

In his words, "five years into our partnership with CAF for the sponsorship of the African Footballer of the Year Awards, we look back with a sense of accomplishment that the promise we made to raise the bar in the global rating of the awards and African players, has been largely delivered.

It is not by accident that today, African football and African players command global respect. This development is as a result of sustained growth in the standard of performance, and the quality of players coming out of the continent. It is also the product of the prestige Globacom has bestowed on deserving winners of the award."

The conference had in attendance two former NFA Chairmen, Group Captain John Obakpolor and General Dominic Oneya.

Also at the event were Nigeria Premier League Board Chairman, Chief Oyuki Obaseki, Mike Umeh, a former member of the NFA, and Dr. Rafiu Ladipo of the Supporters Club.