Three Super Eagles players, Ahmed Musa, Odion Jude Ighalo and Alex Iwobi have been nominated along with Mohammed Salah, Sadio Mane and Riyard Mahrez in the race for 2018 Africa Footballer of The Year, footballlive.ng can report.
While Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi is also nominated for young player of the year and Eagles boss, Gernot Rohr in the running for the coach’s prize, Musa, Ighalo and Iwobi are in a list of 34 for the topmost prize.
Nigeria’s stand-in captain, Musa scored twice for the Eagles to beat Iceland 2-0 at the World Cup in Russia, to take his overall total to four goals at the Mundial.
Iwobi continues to establish himself at tip-top player in the English Premier League with Arsenal and has enjoyed a massive breakthrough year with the Eagles.
On his part, Ighalo ended among the leading scorers in the Chinese Super League and he is top of the goals charts in the 2019 AFCON qualifiers, following his rush of six in three matches.
Similarly, Ndidi featured for the Eagles at the World Cup in Russia and has been outstanding in the Premier League with Leicester City, where he has been Young Player of the Year in the past two seasons.
He will contest for the African brightest youngster’s gong with Cote d’Ivoire’s Franck Kessie of AC Milan and Cameroon’s Andre Onana of Ajax Amsterdam.
Rohr is first nominated for this recognition last year after he qualified Nigeria to the 2018 World Cup, and has now qualified the team to the 2019 AFCON with a match to spare.
