Caf opens POTY voting to fans

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWEANS have been given an opportunity to vote for the Caf African Player of the Year as well as the continent’s 11 finest players, whose winners will be unveiled at a gala in Ghana next month.

For the first time in the history of the process, Caf opened up the voting to football fans and they will be choosing among the three finalists Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Gabon, who plays for Borrusia Dortmund, and the Liverpool duo of Mohammed Salah and Sadio Mane from Egypt and Senegal respectively.

Voting was officially opened yesterday.

“For the African Player of the Year, the public can vote via the Caf website for their preferred choice amongst the top three contenders Mohamed Salah (Egypt and Liverpool), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon and Borussia Dortmund) and Sadio Mane (Senegal and Liverpool).

The outcome will be tallied with the results from the two earlier phases of the selection process for each of the trio,” Caf said in a statement.

For the 11 finalists, voting will be based on a 3-4-3 tactical formation and will be done via the Caf Facebook page and the process is set to close on January 2, 2018, ahead of the awards gala two days later.

“The nominated players were decided based on the points accrued from the first phase of the voting process. Details of the votes will be made public at the Aiteo Caf Awards Gala 2017 on Thursday, 4 January 2018 in Accra, Ghana,” Caf said in the statement.

With Zimbabweans known for their huge following of the Barclays English Premiership and a large number being Liverpool fans, it’s almost a given that the duo of Salah and Mane could get more votes from Zimbabwe compared to Gabon’s Aubameyang.

@skhumoyo2000