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Accra - Chelsea teammates Didier Drogba and Michael Essien and Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto'o have been nominated for the 2009 African Footballer of the Year award.
Algeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana were announced as nominees for the African National Team of the Year.
The possible winners of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) awards, which also chooses the African club, young player and coach of the year, were announced Tuesday.
The 31-year-old Drogba won the African Player of the Year award in 2006 and is Ivory Coast's all-time leading scorer with 43 goals in 65 games. The powerful striker was instrumental in his country's successful run to the World Cup, scoring six goals in five games as Ivory Coast topped its group and sealed a spot at the tournament in South Africa later this year.
Essien has been nominated for African Player of the Year for the fifth successive year but is yet to win. The 27-year-old midfielder also helped his country finish top of its group in qualifying for the west African country to reach just its second World Cup.
In the absence of the injured Essien, Ghana reached the final of the 2010 African Cup of Nations last month, losing to Egypt.
Eto'o was voted African Player of the Year in 2003, 2004 and 2005 and the Cameroon striker is the leading scorer in African Cup history. The 28-year-old scored eight goals in World Cup qualifying, including a crucial strike in the victory over Morocco that secured qualification for Cameroon.
Algeria reached its first World Cup since 1986 after overcoming north African rivals Egypt in a heated playoff in Sudan last November. The two countries had finished with identical records at the top of their qualifying group.
Algeria climbed to its highest ever FIFA ranking of No. 26 in the world in December 2009.
T.P. Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the 2009 African Champions League winner, has been nominated as African Club of the Year alongside Heartland FC of Nigeria and Mali's CAF Confederation Cup winner, Stade Malien.
AC Milan player Dominic Adiyiah was named as a contender for the Young Player of the Year award. Adiyiah won the most valuable player award at the 2009 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Egypt as Ghana were crowned champions. Ghana's young stars beat Brazil in a penalty shootout to become the first African winners of the tournament.
Feyenoord's South Africa under-20 international, Kermit Erasmus, and Sani Emmanuel of the Nigerian under-17 team were also nominated.
The African Coach of the Year will be chosen between Diego Garzitto of T.P. Mazembe, Ghana under-20 coach Sellas Tetteh and John Obuh, who led the Nigerian team to the final of the under-17 World Cup last year after taking over shortly before the tournament.
The winners are decided by a vote of the national coaches of 53 African countries and will be announced at an awards gala in Accra on March 11.
Nominees for the 2009 CAF awards:
African Footballer of the Year: Didier Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast), Michael Essien (Chelsea, Ghana), Samuel Eto'o (Inter Milan, Cameroon).
National Team of the Year: Algeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana.
Club of the Year: Heartland FC (Nigeria), Stade Malien (Mali), T.P. Mazembe (DR Congo).
Young Player of the Year: Dominic Adiyiah (AC Milan, Ghana U-20), Kermit Erasmus (Feyenoord, South Africa U-20), Sani Emmanuel (Bodens BK, Nigeria U-17).
Coach of the Year: Diego Garzitto (T.P. Mazembe), John Obuh (Nigeria U-17), Sellas Tetteh (Ghana U-20).
Best African player on the continent: Uche Agba (Heartland FC, Nigeria), Mputu Mabi (T.P. Mazembe, DR Congo), Abdelmalek Ziaya (Entente Setif, Algeria)
