Skip to content

Prem stars head awards list

Image: Didier Drogba: Chelsea's Ivorain forward has taken the prize on two previous occasions

Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba, Gervinho and Adel Taarabt have been named among the 10 nominees for the 2011 African Player of the Year.

Drogba, Toure, Gervinho and Taarabt looking to land African crown

Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba, Gervinho and Adel Taarabt have been named among the 10 nominees for the 2011 African Player of the Year. The cream of the African crop were shortlisted on Wednesday and the Premier League is well represented. Chelsea's Ivorian striker Drogba is a two-time winner of the award and is a leading candidate again this time around. Ivory Coast international Yaya Toure is rewarded for a number of impressive displays for Manchester City, while Moroccan playmaker Adel Taarabt helped Queens Park Rangers to promotion into the English top flight last term. Ivorian forward Gervinho shone for Lille in 2010/11, earning him a summer switch to Arsenal, and he has continued to impress since arriving at the Emirates.

Holder

Another nominee, Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan, is still technically on the books of Sunderland, but a loan switch to Al-Ain suggests his days in England are numbered. He is joined on the shortlist by fellow countrymen Andre Ayew of Marseille and Kevin-Prince Boateng of AC Milan. Senegalese goal-getter Moussa Sow, who helped Lille to the French title last season, and Barcelona's Malian enforcer Seydou Keita are also in the running. The final man up for Africa's top prize is the current holder of the crown and four-time winner Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon and Anzhi Makhachkala. The winner of the 2011 award will be decided by a vote of Africa's national team coaches and announced at a ceremony in Accra, Ghana on 22nd December.

Around Sky