Audio By Carbonatix
The five candidates for the BBC African Footballer of the Year 2012 award have been revealed.
Yaya Toure has made the shortlist for the second consecutive year and he is joined by his Ivory Coast team-mate Didier Drogba, Senegal's Demba Ba, Morocco's Younes Belhanda and Zambia skipper Christopher Katongo.
The winner will be decided by African football fans, who have until 1830 GMT on Thursday, 13 December to vote for their choice.
You can either vote via this page or by sending an SMS from your phone to +44 7786 20 50 75:
Text 1 for Demba Ba
Text 2 for Younes Belhanda
Text 3 for Didier Drogba
Text 4 for Christopher Katongo
Or Text 5 for Yaya Toure
Standard international text rates apply, please check with your service provider. Texts are limited to one text per mobile phone number.
The winner will be announced on Monday, 17 December.
It has been an outstanding year for all the nominees, with four of the players winning silverware.
Drogba could not have bid a better farewell to Chelsea at the end of the season after scoring the winning penalty to clinch the Champions League trophy for the first time in the club's history, and also scoring what proved to be the winning goal in the FA Cup final.
His Ivorian compatriot, Toure, was a key player for Manchester City as the Sky Blues were crowned Premier League champions for the first time - and their first top-flight title for 44 years.
A domestic title was also earned by Belhanda, whose 12 goals and all-round performances were a huge factor as Montpellier pulled off a major surprise to win the French Ligue 1 championship.
On the international scene there was yet another first as Katongo led from the front for Zambia, skippering them to a shock victory in the Africa Cup of Nations, where Chipolopolo beat Ivory Coast on penalties in the final.
Ba fared less well at the Nations Cup, with Senegal going out of the competition at the group stage, but he enjoyed personal success with Newcastle where he ended last season as the club's top scorer with 17 goals, helping them to finish fifth in the table.
Previous winners of BBC African Footballer of the Year award:
2011 - Andre 'Dede' Ayew (Marseille & Ghana)
2010 - Asamoah Gyan (Sunderland & Ghana)
2009 - Didier Drogba (Chelsea & Ivory Coast)
2008 - Mohamed Aboutrika (Al Ahly & Egypt)
2007 - Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal & Togo)
2006 - Michael Essien (Chelsea & Ghana)
2005 - Mohamed Barakat (Al Ahly & Egypt)
2004 - Jay Jay Okocha (Bolton & Nigeria)
2003 - Jay Jay Okocha (Bolton & Nigeria)
2002 - El Hadji Diouf (Liverpool & Senegal)
2001 - Sammy Kuffour (Bayern Munich & Ghana)
2000 - Patrick Mboma (Parma & Cameroon)
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
Tags:
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
Latest Stories
-
Mercy Johnson faces backlash over $18.24 menstrual kit
29 minutes -
EU plans to fine Google high triple-digit million euro sum, Handelsblatt reports
38 minutes -
Senegal’s Faye names economist Lo as new prime minister
47 minutes -
Landslide at Angola illegal gold mine kills 28
58 minutes -
The Draft NITA Bill should be shredded
1 hour -
Eni and partners approve new development phase for Ivory Coast project
1 hour -
Govt signals tougher scrutiny before renewing Gold Fields’ Tarkwa lease, Reuters report
1 hour -
Africa must build strong systems to achieve sporting success — Herbert Mensah
1 hour -
Gunmen abduct 25 people in twin attacks in Nigeria’s Kwara state, police say
2 hours -
Ebola patients flee in attacks on Congo health facilities, hobbling response
2 hours -
What Is Wrong with Us: Why we keep uprooting young trees because they have not yet become forests
2 hours -
Senegal’s parliament speaker quits two days after prime minister sacked
2 hours -
WHO chief says fast-moving Ebola epidemic is outpacing response efforts
2 hours -
Rubio says Strait of Hormuz has to be open ‘one way or the other’Â
2 hours -
Cocoa farmers, patients and consumers paying price for governance failures – CDM
2 hours