The race for who succeeds Ivorian, Yaya Toure, three times African player of the year is now on as CAF has announced the list of 25 players to contest for the prestigious position.

Lions captain, Stephane Mbia is in the race among two other Cameroonians, two forwards Vincent Aboubakar and Eric Maxim Choupo Moting. Also among the best African players based in Africa is Souleymane Moussa of Coton Sport of Garoua.

Mbia has seen his career with FC Seville progress, winning the Europa League title last year and has been contributing to the scoring spree of the club. The best Spanish ‘recuperator’ last month was one of the nominees for the best African player of La Liga. He was the author of one of the goals against Sierra Leone in Yaounde to secure a 2-0 lead for the Lions.

Vincent Aboubakar also in the list of the BBC African player of the year had a tremendous 2013/2014 season with Lorient scoring 16 goals and could be a good candidate for the African player of the year even if his debut in FC Porto had not been remarkable.

Eric Maxim Choupo Moting is having a great season with his new club, Schalke 04 having scored four goals in 14 outings.

The Winner would be announced during the CAF Glo Award billed to take place in Lagos Nigeria on January 8.

List of Nominees
Thulani Serero (Ajax Amsterdam)
Islam Slimani (Sporting Lisbonne)
Raïs M’Bolhi (Philadelphia Union)
Sofiane Feghouli (Valence)
Yacine Brahimi (Porto)
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Schalke 04)
Stéphane Mbia (FC Séville)
Vincent Aboubakar (Porto)
Gervinho (AS Roma)
Wilfried Bony (Swansea)
Yaya Touré (Manchester City)
Mohamed El Neny (FC Bâle)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund)
Asamoah Gyan (Al Ain)
Kwadwo Asamoah (Juventus)
Seydou Keita (AS Roma)
Mehdi Benatia (Bayern Munich)
Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscou)
Vincent Enyeama (Lille)
Yannick Bolasie (Crystal Palace)
Dame N’Doye (Lokomotiv Moscou)
Sadio Mané (Southampton)
Emmanuel Adebayor (Tottenham)
Fakhreddine Ben Youssef (CS Sfaxien)
Ferdjani Sassi (CS Sfaxien)