My personal nominations for player of the year are: Samuel Eto'o (CAM) Marc Vivien Foe (CAM) Didier Drogba (CIV) Austin "Jay Jay" Okocha (NIG) El Hadji Diouf (SEN) Steven Appiah (GHA) And my vote goes to Samuel Eto'o for his performances in La Liga and the Confederations Cup. African Young player of the year: Obafemi Martins (NIG)
Wow. The actual list has been released and it doesn't include El hadji Diouf. Interesting. Here's the actual CAF list. Togo: Omar Tchomogo (Guingamp, France) Burkina Faso: Moumouni Dagano (Guingamp, France) Cameroon: Samuel Eto'o (Real Mallorca, Spain), Geremi Njitap (Chelsea, England) Ivory Coast: Didier Drogba (Marseille, France), Aruna Dindane (Anderlecht, Belgium), Kolo Toure (Arsenal, England) Egypt: Ahmed Hassan (Besiktas, Turkey) Ghana: Samuel Osei Kuffour (Bayern Munich, Germany), Stephen Appiah (Juventus, Italy), Michael Essien (Lyon, France) Guinea: Dianbobo Balde (Celtic, Scotland) Libya: Tarek El Taeb (Sfax, Libya) Mali: Mahamadou Diarra (Lyon, France) Morocco: Naybet Noureddine ( Deportivo la Coruna, Spain), Jaoud Zairi (Sochaux, France) Nigeria: Jay Jay Okocha (Bolton, England), Obafemi Martins (Inter Milan, Italy), Yakubu Ayegbeni (Portsmouth, England) Sierra Leone: Paul Kpaka (Genk, Belgium) South Africa: Stephan Pinnear (Ajax, Holland) Tunisia: Hatem Trabelsi (Ajax, Holland) Zimbabwe: Peter Ndlovu (Sheffield United, England) My vote still goes to Samuel Eto'o
Got to be Eto'o, no doubt. He's scored some of the most hellacious goals of the year. Some honorary tribute award should be given to Vivien Foe, a kind of football equivalent to serving your country in war (not quite as serious, of course, but with the same degree of appreciation). Drogba is a player I discovered late this year watching French football on FSW -- that guy is an up and coming star who should likely win it in the future. Since we're on this subject -- whatever happened to Mustafa Haji, one-time AFOTY who was so huge after the '98 WC?
Mustapha Hadji From Soccernet.com Extremely talented Moroccan international whose skill on the ball can be breathtaking. Became Coventry's record signing when a £4million offer took him to Highfield Road despite interest from a host of clubs throughout Europe. A scorer and creator of goals, his unpredictable and spontaneous style makes him very difficult to defend against. Spent time in France and Spain before making the move to the Midlands along with Youssef Chippo. Named the Sky Blues' skipper at the start of the 2000/01 season. Hadji did as much as anyone to try and prevent the drop to the Nationwide League - scoring twice in the 3-2 defeat at Villa which finally ended City's stay in the top flight - and vowed to stay at Highfield Road in Division One. However, once Aston Villa came hunting for the star, Coventry found it too hard to reject their advances - especially as they were offering Julian Joachim in return. Hadji eventually signed for Villa in July 2001. Made his debut in a 2-0 victory over Slaven Belupo in the InterToto Cup. His Premiership bow came in a goalless draw at Tottenham Hotspur. Struggled with injury in the second half of his first season at the club, which hampered his bid to hold down a regular first team spot.