Johannesburg - The Confederation of African Football dropped a bombshell on Tuesday by announcing the list of nominees for the African Player of the Year awards is "fictitious".

Bafana Bafana midfielder Steven Pienaar was one of several high-profile players nominated on the fraudulent list that was circulated to media on Monday.

In a press release, Africa's football governing body said: 'CAF wishes to state clearly that the list did not emanate from its offices as there are known procedures for the listing of nominees for the awards.

'In the last five years, CAF and Globacom Limited, sponsors of the award ceremony, have consistently announced the list through scheduled media events and the same procedure will be followed for the 2010 awards nominees.

'In addition, such a list if authored by CAF and Globacom will be posted on the official websites of the two organizations and this has not been the case in respect of the list making the rounds.

'We therefore urge the general public and the football community to disregard the said list circulating in some media circles.'

Although CAF urged the media to ignore the fake list, they did not go so far as to announce when the authentic ballot will be made available for public consumption.