Nominees for BBC African Footballer of the Year revealed

The nominees for the BBC’s 2018 African Footballer of the Year have been announced.

The shortlist which has been compiled by a panel of African football experts include: Medhi Benatia (Morocco), Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal), Sadio Mane (Senegal), Thomas Partey (Ghana) and Mohamed Salah (Egypt).

Voting opened at 7pm on Saturday 17 November and is set to close on Sunday 2 December, with the results due be announced on Friday 14 December at 17:30.

Liverpool and Egypt striker Salah was last year’s winner, in a year that saw him make the switch from Serie A with Roma to the Premier League and lead his country to a first World Cup finals since 1990.

The award’s previous winners have included Nigeria’s Jay-Jay Okocha, Ghana’s Michael Essien, the Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba and Yaya Toure, and Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez.