But CAF after much voting a deliberation have cut the list to just five, which include Yaya Toure who is the current African footballer of the year, Andrew ‘Dede’ Ayew, Demba Ba, Didier Drogba and Alex Song.
With barely a week to the award night which will be held in Accra Ghana on the 20th of December, soccer4life takes a look at the last five standing.
DEMBA BA (SENEGAL AND NEWCASTLE UNITED)
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.
Demba Ba has
shown tenacity, determination and clinical finishing to force his way back into
the reckoning at Newcastle after a difficult spell.
It is, perhaps, those qualities that have most caught the eye and earned him
a place on this year's shortlist. The 27-year-old Senegal striker made a huge impact at Newcastle when he joined from West Ham in June 2011.
He hit 17 goals in his first season to end the campaign as the club's leading scorer - despite suffering a dip in form when he came back from the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations - helping Newcastle to finish fifth in the table and earn a play-off spot for the Europe League.
Despite not starting every Premier League game this
season, Ba has struck eight goals in his 12 appearances - making him the club's
highest scorer and the second-highest scorer in the division.
Ba, who was born in France, made his debut for the Teranga Lions against
Tanzania back in June 2007 and has scored four times in 16 appearances. He is part of a wealth of attacking talent at Senegal's disposal, competing for a starting place with his club-mate Papiss Cisse, Moussa Sow and Dame N'Doye and Moussa Konate.
But Ba and his team-mates will not be at next year's Nations Cup in South Africa after Senegal were disqualified because of crowd trouble at their final-round qualifier against Ivory Coast.
Instead, Ba will be looking to fire Newcastle up the table at a crucial time of the season.
ANDREW 'Dede' AYEW(GHANA AND MARSEILLE)
Players from Ghana have often dominated the nominee list for the award, since it began, with the names of Sammy Kuffour, Michael Essien, Asamoah Gyan and Andre 'Dede' Ayew already featured in recent times.
The 22-year-old midfielder was immense in Ghana’s 2012 Africa Cup of Nations campaign of which the four-time African champions finished fourth. He kicked off this season for his club, Olympic Marseille on the high with four goals out of 12 games. He played 39 times for OM and banged in 16 strikes in the last term.
DIDIER DROGBA (IVORY COAST AND SHANGHAI)
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.
In May, Didier
Drogba bowed out after eight seasons at Chelsea with a man-of-the-match
performance in the European Champions League final.
Drogba, having been sent off in the final four years earlier, converted the winning penalty as the English club were crowned continental champions for the first time in their history.
The 34-year-old left an indelible mark on English football, before embarking on a brand new adventure by signing for Chinese Super League club, Shanghai Shenhua.
Ivory Coast's superstar joined Shenhua for a reported
£200,000 a week, and settled swiftly, scoring eight goals in 11 league games.
Drogba's euphoric finale in Munich was in stark contrast to the heart-break
endured a few months earlier, when playing for his national side at the 2012
Africa Cup of Nations. The Elephants' skipper had led his talented team to the final for the second time. As with the Nations Cup final against Egypt six years earlier, penalties would decide the outcome.
On this occasion, it was the underdogs of Zambia who shattered Drogba's dream.
During his time with Chelsea, Drogba scored more than 150 goals in almost 350 appearances. He won the Premier League title three times, the FA Cup four times and the League Cup twice.
In October, the Chelsea supporters voted him the club's greatest player.
A previous recipient of the BBC African Footballer of the Year, in 2009, Drogba was a late developer but has wasted little time in becoming one of Africa's greatest exports.
ALEX SONG (CAMEROOUN AND BARCELONA)
The Barcelona midfielder made 204 appearances for English Premier League side Arsenal and had 10 goals to his credit. He joined the Blaugrana August 2012. The 25-year-old Cameroonian was voted in second place as the Gunners’ player of the season by the fans.
Alex Song became a strong figure at Arsenal with the departure of Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona, He took up the central midfield position instead of his usual Defencive role. He put in a good number of solid performances for the Gunners, he was instrumental to Robin Van persie winning the Golden boot for the first time in the premier League.
He also played a key role for his country Cameroon at the African cup of Nations but unfortunately they weren't able to reach to the finals of the competition.
In the summer of the 2012/2013 season Song made a surprise move to Barcelona. A move which left many Arsenal fans furious.
Alex Song who started playing at the highest level at a very young age, have taken no time to become one of the finest midfielders in world soccer today.
YAYA TOURE (IVORY COAST AND MANCHESTER CITY)
Having helped
Manchester City win their first trophy in 35 years by scoring the only goal in
the 2011 FA Cup final at Wembley, Yaya Toure was then outstanding the following
season as City were crowned Premier League champions for the first time.
The powerful Ivory Coast midfielder was instrumental in City's success as the
club ended their 44-year wait for a league championship title. Toure's stellar performances, which combined his trademark driving runs, speed and immense physical attributes, enabled City to dominate the midfield and sweep all before them.
And when the Sky Blues stuttered in the title run-in,
Toure was magnificent as City beat their biggest rivals Manchester United and
then scored twice against Newcastle in the penultimate match of the season to
put his side top of the table on goal difference - the margin by which they
would clinch the title.
The league winners' medal was the latest haul of silverware for the 29-year-old, adding to the European Champions League, European Super Cup, Fifa Club World Cup, two Spanish league titles and Copa del Rey medal he won with Barcelona, and the Greek league title he earned with Olympiakos.
Toure, who won the Confederation of African Football's 2011 African Player of the Year award, has started this season in strong style.
He scored in City's Community Shield victory over Chelsea and has hit another four goals in the Premier League.
In January he will begin his quest with Ivory Coast to win the Africa Cup of Nations and try to cap what has already been a glittering career.
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