super Eagles’ goalkeeper and captain, Vincent Enyeama, aims to turn the table against the current holder of the CAF African Footballer of the Year, Yaya Toure, as the new African king will be crowned in Lagos on Thursday.
Enyeama, Yaya Toure and Gabonese midfielder, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, made the final top three for the 2014 African Player of the Year.
The trio made the cut following votes from Head Coaches or Technical Directors of the National Associations affiliated to CAF.
Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan and Ahmed Musa of Nigeria failed to make the final list.
Enyeama’s excellent work between the sticks provided a platform upon which Lille secured qualification for the Champions League play-off round.
Their defensive record was key to this achievement as they conceded only 26 goals all season, second only to champions, Paris Saint-Germain.
Enyeama kept 11 consecutive clean sheets in Ligue 1 matches during the first half of the season and finally conceded a goal after playing 1,062 minutes of Ligue 1 football in an away match against Bordeaux.
He thus came within 114 minutes of equalling Gaetan Huard’s Ligue 1 goalkeeping record, set in 1993, of playing 1,176 minutes without conceding a goal.
The goalkeeper played a major role en route Nigeria’s lifting the AFCON 2013 trophy in South Africa after 19 years.
He was also in brilliant form both at the Confederations Cup and the World Cup hosted in Brazil in 2014.
The former Enyimba of Aba safest pair of hands was rewarded by being named the Ligue 1 African Player of the Season and was recently named the Best Goalkeeper in France during 2014.
On the other hand, Yaya Toure is very keen about winning the award for the fourth time consecutively and also equal Samuel Eto’o’s record.
Eto’o has been crowned an unprecedented four times – 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010, whilst Toure has a hat-trick of titles (2011, 2012, 2013).
Former Senegal forward, El Hadji Diouf, won the award twice in a row: 2001 and 2002.
Though, the Ivorian had a terrifying World Cup in Brazil but he succeeded in guiding Manchester City to win the English Premier League title.
He is also vital to the Etihad side campaign in the UEFA Champions League.
Similarly, Aubameyang became an instant hit in the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund. The player, who left Ligue 1 side, Saint Etienne, in 2013, has scored good number of goals for club and his country, Gabon.
For the African Player of the Year (Based in Africa), Algerian duo of Akram Djahnit and El Hedi Belamieri, are in contention with DR Congo forward, Firmin Mubele Ndombe.
Winners of the prestigious honour have come from either the midfield or attack and that tradition will either be respected yet again or broken for the first time with a goalkeeper amongst the contenders.
In addition, the 14 players to have been decorated since 1992 had and continue to remain amongst the foremost African ambassadors of the world’s most popular sport.
Nigeria is the country which has the biggest number of laureates with five awards in total: two for Kanu, one each for Emmanuel Amunike, Rashidi Yekini and Victor Ikpeba, just as Cote d’Ivoire, Toure (thrice) and Drogba (twice).
Patrick Mboma won it once, coupled with Eto’o’s four-time feat also gives Cameroon five titles. Diouf is responsible for the only two titles in the name of Senegal.
One-time winners include Ghana – Abedi Pele, Liberia – George Weah (the only African player to have been crowned FIFA World Footballer of the Year), Morocco – Mustapha Hadji, Mali – Frederic Kanoute and Togo – Emmanuel Adebayor.
Past award winners
1992 Abedi Ayew Pele (Ghana)
1993 Rashidi Yekini (Nigeria)
1994 Emmanuel Amuneke (Nigeria)
1995 George Weah (Liberia)
1996 Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria)
1997 Victor Ikpeba (Nigeria)
1998 Mustapha Hadji (Morocco)
1999 Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria)
2000 Patrick Mboma (Cameroon)
2001 El-Hadji Diouf (Senegal)
2002 El Hadji Diouf (Senegal)
2003 Samuel Eto‘o (Cameroon)
2004 Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
2005 Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
2006 Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire)
2007 Frederic Kanoute (Mali)
2008 Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo)
2009 Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire)
2010 Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
2011 Yaya Toure (Côte d’Ivoire)
2012 Yaya Toure (Côte d’Ivoire)
2013 Yaya Toure (Côte d’Ivoire)
2014 ???