Essien, Drogba Vie For Player Of The Year Award

The other two players in the final list are Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon and Micahel Essien of Ghana.Barcelona duo of Seydou Keita and Yaya Toure, who were part of the initial five-man shortlist, were left out of the final list. The list was drawn up by Caf's Technical and Media committees before it was whittled down by national team coaches across the continent."The list has been carefully selected by the committees which has been mandated by Caf to do and we know the best have been chosen," Caf director of communications Suleiman Habuba said. The exciting TP Mazembe midfielder Mputu Mabi is the favourite to win the Best Player in on the Continent award. The DR Congo international as he is being challenged by Agba Agba of Nigerian side Heartland and and Abdel Malek Ziaya of Entente Setif who was the Confederation Cup's top scorer. World youth best player Dominic Adiyiah of Ghana is the favourite to the the Young Player of the Year award which also has Erasmus Khemit and Sani Emmanuel. Adiyiah's exploits with the Ghana U20 World Cup winning team marks him out and so is his coach Sellas Tetteh who faces John Obuh of Nigeria's U17 team as well as Kazito Deigo of TP Mazembe. Another category where Ghana will be vying for an award is the Best Team of the Year where Algeria and Ivory Coast were also nominated. Heartland of Nigeria, Mali's Stade Malien and TP Mazembe of DR Congo will seek the Club of the Year award. The event will be held in Accra on 11 March after a decision to drop the Dakar as the venue for this year's continental gliterrati. Even though Samuel Eto'o played a leading role in ensuring that Barcelona won all the titles they were vying for last season, Drgoba's exploints for both club and country marks him out. Essien, the Ghana international, has an outside chance of winnnig the award as his season was blighted by injuries even though he was pivotal in securing Ghana's World Cup player during the year. Togo and Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor won the 2008 Africa Player of the Year award but his form dipped last year and was not included in the shortlist. Player of the Year - Didier Drogba (IVC, Cheslea), Michael Essien (Ghana, Chelsea), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon, Inter Milan). Player of Year on the Continent Agba Agba (Heartland, Nigeria), Mputu Mabi (TP Mazembe, DR Congo), Abdel Malek Ziaya (Entente Setif, Algeria)COach of the Year Kazito Deigo (TP Mazembe) John Obuh (Nigeria U17), Sellas Tetteh (Ghana U20) Young Player of the year Dominic Dominic (Ghana, AC Milan), Erasmus Khemit (South Africa, Feyenoord), Sani Emmanuel (Nigeria, Odense)Club of the Year Heartland (Nigeria), Stade Malien (Mali) TP Mazembe (DR Congo) National Team of the Year Algeria, Ivory coast, Ghana