Moses Simon and Akinkunmi Amoo, both midfielders with the Super Eagles, have been shortlisted for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Awards 2022.
CAF released the list of nominees in different categories for male footballers on Thursday with Africa Cup of Nations winner Sadio Mane, and former Liverpool teammate, Mohammed Salah making the nominees’ list.
Simon, who currently plays for FC Nantes in France, was the sole Nigerian player nominated for Player of the Year (Men).
The Jos-born speedster was pivotal to Nantes 2021/22 season, where they finished ninth in the Ligue 1 and won the Coupe de France after beating Nice in the final.
Amoo, on the other hand, was nominated in the Young Player of the Year (Men) category alongside nine others.
The 20-year-old won the Danish Super Liga with FC Copenhagen in the 2021/22 season having come from Swedish side Hammarby, where he won the Svenska Cupen in 2020.
Amoo was part of the Nigerian U-17 squad which competed at the CAF U-17 AFCON and the FIFA U-17 World Cup both in 2019, and later promoted to the senior team.
Meanwhile, the 30-man Men’s Player of The Year category was notably missing Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen who plays at Napoli in the Italian Serie A.
Osimhen, with the Super Eagles, failed to qualify for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, and were knocked out in the Round of 16 at the 2021 AFCON by Tunisia.
Nigeria also missed out of the nomination in the Men’s National Team of the Year category with Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Comoros, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, and Tunisia making the cut.
Some of the players who made the Men’s Player of the Year nominees list include, Riyad Mahrez, Bertrand Traore, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Cameroon & Napoli), Karl Toko Ekambi, Vincent Aboubacar, Franck Kessie, Sebastien Haller, Mohamed ElNeny, Mohamed Salah, Musa Barrow, Naby Keita, Yves Bissouma, Achraf Hakimi, Edouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Sadio Mane.
The CAF Awards 2022 will be held before the final of the Africa Women Cup of Nations in Morocco, scheduled to take place from July 2 to July 23.
