The three-man shortlist which was released by the Confederation of African Football on Sunday, has Senegal’s Sadio Mane, who plays for Liverpool, his clubmate Egypt’s Mohamed Salah and Manchester City’s Algeria forward Riyad Mahrez.

The list was pruned down from the 10-man shortlist which was released by CAF on December 10.

Shortlists for other categories were also reduced to three each.

The shortlist of top three nominees for each award category was reached following votes from a CAF Technical & Development Committee and a panel of media experts with emphasis on the nominees’ performance during the year under review, 2019.

“It also included votes from a select panel of CAF Legends, made up of former winners of the prestigious African Player of the Year award. The legends took part in the voting process for the Player of the Year (Men & Women),” CAF said on its website.

Super Eagles duo of Victor Osimhen and Samuel Chukwueze will slug it out with Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi for the African Youth Player of the Year award.

Super Falcons captain Asisat Oshoala makes the Women’s Player of  The Year shortlist, which also has Cameroon’s Ajara Nchout and Thembi Kgatlana from South Africa.

Former Falcons coach Thomas Dennerby is in contention for the Women’s Coach of the Year award, after being shortlisted alongside Cameroon’s Alain Djeumfa and Desiree Ellis from South Africa, while the Falcons are also among the final three shortlist for the Women’s National Team of The Year award.

Winners of the player of the year (men and women) and male and female coach of the year will be determined by votes from coaches, technical directors and captains of senior national teams from CAF member associations.

Winners of each category will be announced during the CAF Awards ceremony on January 7, 2020 at the Albatros Citadel Sahl Hasheesh, Hurghada, Egypt.