Nantes winger Moses Simon and Copenhagen youngster, Akinkunmi Amoo have dropped out of the list of nominees for the 2022 CAF awards,
Simon was initially among the 30-man shortlist for the African Player of the Year released on June 30 and Amoo was shortlisted alongside nine others for the Young Player of the Year (Men) category.
CAF has now released a final star-studded list of nominees which now features ten nominees for the African Player of the Year award and the French Cup winner, Simon is absent from this list.
The Young Player of the Year nominees was halved and despite winning the Danish Super Liga with Copenhagen, Amoo did not make the cut.
AFCON winner Sadio Mane is set to battle it out with Riyad Mahrez and former team mate, Mohamed Salah for the 2022 African Player of the Year award.
Apart from the Player of the Year category, another group that is attracting stiff competition and attention is the Coach of the Year category.
Aliou Cisse, who won the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal, Pitso Mosimane, Carlos Queiroz, Tom Saintfiet and Walid Regragui – a 2021/2022 Champions League winner have made the final cut.
The winners of each category will be decided by a voting panel made up of CAF Technical Committee, media professionals, Head Coaches & Captains of Member Associations and clubs involved at the group stage of the Interclub competitions for the 2021/22 season.
Other nominees for the African Player of the Year (Men) include Karl Toko Ekambi (Cameroon & Olympique Lyonnais), Vincent Aboubacar (Cameroon & Al Nassr), Sebastien Haller (Cote d’Ivoire & Ajax), Naby Keita (Guinea & Liverpool), Achraf Hakimi (Morocco & Paris Saint-Germain), Edouard Mendy (Senegal & Chelsea), and Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal & Napoli).
The ceremony to award the winners will be held in Rabat, Morocco on July, 21.
The CAF Awards 2022 will be held before the final of the Africa Women Cup of Nations in Morocco, scheduled to take place from July 2 to July 23.