The Confederation of African football (CAF) has released the list of players who will battle for the award of the young player of the year, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
CAF made the nominees known earlier today and the list of ten includes newly invited Super Eagles striker Gift Orban owing to his impressive performance for Gent, where he scored 20 goals in 22 games following his January transfer move to the club from second division Norwegian side Stabæk.
Orban was handed a call up to the senior national team of Nigeria for their final Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers game against Sao Tome and Principe, but didn’t make his debut with reports circulating that he wasn’t handed his debut by coach Jose Peseiro due to a dispute over his nationality following claims by Togo.
However he was listed as a Nigerian by CAF, which could finally pave the way for the 21 year old to be in the mix for the senior national team of Nigeria for the Africa Cup of Nations next year.
For the award he is facing stiff competition from the Moroccan duo of Abdessamad Ezzalzouli of Real Betis and Bilal El Khannous of Genk. Below is the list of nominees.
Young Player of the Year (Men)
- Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso and Bournemouth)
- Souleymane Alio (Burkina Faso and New Stars)
- Ernest Nuamah (Ghana & Olympique Lyonnais)
- Abdessamad Ezzalzouli (Morocco and Betis)
- Bilal El Khannous (Morocco and Genk)
- Gift Orban (Nigeria and KAA Gent)
- Lamine Camara (Senegal and Generation Foot/Metz)
- Pape Amadou Diallo (Senegal and Generation Foot/Metz)
- Pape Demba Diop (Senegal and Zulte Waregem)
- Amara Diouf (Senegal and Generation Foot)
Ade Emmanuel