For months, the subject of who will win the 2024 CAF Player of the Year has seen fans tout the likes of Ademola Lookman, Victor Boniface, and Brahim Diaz as favourites for the accolade.
Those football fans would have been left in shock, however, when the official nominees list was released by CAF on Thursday and the likes of Boniface, Diaz, and Mo Salah were missing altogether.
Boniface was seen as a favourite for the award having been instrumental in Bayer Leverkusen winning the Bundesliga title and DFB Pokal, scoring 16 goals in 26 appearances for the club on the way to a domestic double.
Leverkusen fell short of getting a historic treble, with Boniface scoring five goals in seven games to help the club reach the Europa League final before losing to Atalanta courtesy of a historic hat-trick by Lookman.
The Super Eagles striker missed the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, though, after picking up an injury days before the competition held in Ivory Coast started. Nigeria will go on to make the final before losing to the host nation.
Diaz on his part only made his debut for Morocco in March 2024 after switching allegiance from Spain, after being left out of the Atlas Lions’ squad to AFCON 2023; though it was a pre-established agreement he won’t be part of the party to Ivory Coast.
The Real Madrid attacking midfielder made 40 appearances for the Spanish giants in the league and Europe, scoring 10 goals as the team went on to win the La Liga and Champions League titles.
Meanwhile, Salah scored 18 goals in 34 league games for Liverpool on the Reds’ way to finishing third behind Manchester City and Arsenal in the 2023-24 season. He also missed the EFL Cup final win over Chelsea due to injury.