Topics: André Ayew, Yaya Touré, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, AFCON, CAF, Player of the Year
The category includes ten African players that play outside of the African continent. The winners will be announced on January 7, 2016 in Nigeria.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Yaya Toure and Ayew are the three strongest candidates in a pool of ten players competing for the AFCON Player of the Year Award. The list was announced this Monday morning along with another shortlist of ten players in the African Player of the Year (based in Africa) award.

Votes made by the Coaches or Technical Directors of the National Associations affiliated to CAF will decide the winner of these awards. The awards gala will be held on Thursday, 7 January 2016 in Abuja, Nigeria. It is most likely that the winner will come from one of the three players we mentioned at the beginning and here is why. 

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund)

This 26-yeal old striker has been working as a professional soccer player since 2008 and seven years after his debut with Milan AC, his turn under the bright spotlight has arrived. With 13 goals in 11 Bundesliga games, along with three assists, Aubameyang is a constant threat to defenders around the league. 

Aubameyang has also scored three times in the Europa League and once in the DFB Pokal. He is currently tied with his former friend Robert Lewandowski at the top of the leading scorers chart of the Bundesliga. However, he did not contribute in Dortmund's 3-1 win over Werder Bremen.

His best week so far this season came when he scored two consecutive hat-tricks. First against FK Qabala in the Europa League and then another one at home in the 5-1 victory of Dortmund against Augsburg. In the last ten games, Aubameyandg has scored in eight of them.

Don't mess with Aubameyang

Yaya Touré (Manchester City)

The defending king of this award wants it for a fifth time. 32-year-old Touré has some arguments to make a case for himself if he wants to defeat such a strong field of competitors. His biggest accomplishment so far this year has been helping Ivory Coast win the AFCON award. 

His passing ability is Touré's best weapon against opposing team, and the best tool he can offer his teammates. He is currently tied in fifth place with several other players for the most assists this season. Mesut Ozil is the leader with nine, while Touré and company have four. 

So far, he has scored two goals in the Premier League and one in the League Cup. If Touré wins the award, it will be the first time that someone earns it for a fifth occasion. While the competition is really strong this year, he hopes that there is still a chance to fight Aubameyang and the others involved in the list.

Touré won't have it easy this time around

André Ayew (Swansea City)

From Ghana but playing for Swansea City since July of this year is Andre Ayew. The 25-year old player scored 14 goals for Marseille in his last months with the Ligue 1 side. There could have been more goals in his personal account, but there was a four-week period in which he had to go and help Ghana in the AFCON. 

During that tournament, Ayew played an important role to lead the efforts of Ghana towards a silver-medal performance. His level of play caught the attention of Swansea City, so he ended up making a move to England by the end of the season under a contract that expires in 2019. 

Ayew made a quick impact with Swansea City, as he was named the Player of the Month for the month of August. Since joining the Premier League side, he has scored five goals and stands six goals behind Jamie Vardy from Leicester City who leads the competition with 11 goals so far this season. 

Swansea is proud of André

Full List of Candidates