Toure, Aubameyang and Salah lead CAF Player of the Year nominations

Yaya Toure, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mohamed Salah are among the star names to be nominated for the 2015 CAF Player of the Year award.

The Confederation of African Football has named 37 players on its shortlist for the continent’s most prestigious individual award, with the eventual winner to be named on December 22.

Toure has taken out the last four CAF Player of the Year awards. If he makes it five in succession this year, he will hold the outright record over Samuel Eto’o, who has also won it four times.

The Manchester City midfielder won the Africa Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast this year but will still face stiff competition for the individual prize, having been short of his best form at club level. 

Aubameyang, who finished second last year, scored 25 goals for Borussia Dortmund last season. He has already struck 14 times in all competitions so far this term.

Former Chelsea winger Salah enjoyed an excellent second half of 2014-15 with Fiorentina before signing for Roma in the close-season. 

Other names on the list include Gervinho, a club colleague of the Egyptian and international team-mate of Toure, as well as Vincent Enyeama, who came third in 2014 and has recently been involved in a public feud with Nigeria boss Sunday Oliseh.

Eto’o and two-time winner Didier Drogba, who had been named on the podium for two of the last three years, are not included in the list.

CAF Player of the Year 2015 shortlist in full: Ahmed Musa, Andre Ayew, Aymen Abdennour, Baghdad Bounedjah, Basem Morsi, Christian Atsu, Dieumerci Mbokani, El Arbi Hillel Soudani, Faouzi Ghoulam, Ferebory Dore, Gervinho, Ibrahima Traore, Javier Balboa, Heldon Ramos, Mame Diouf, Max Gradel, Mehdi Benatia, Modather Al Tayeb, Mohamed Salah, Nicolas Nkoulou, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Robert Kidiaba, Rudy Gestede, Riyad Mahrez, Sadio Mane, Serge Aurier, Seydou Keita, Sofiane Feghouli, Stephane Mbia, Thievy Bifouma, Victor Wanyama, Vincent Aboubakar, Vincent Enyeama, Yacine Brahimi, Yannick Bolasie, Yasine Chikhaoui and Yaya Toure.