Yaya Toure remained on course to be named African Footballer of the Year for a record-equalling third successive time after being named as one of the three finalists for the award to be handed out later this month.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) yesterday cut the list of candidates for the 2013 award down from 10, with Toure up against his Ivory Coast team-mate Didier Drogba and Chelsea’s Nigerian midfielder John Obi Mikel.
A poll of national team coaches from all 54 African countries will decide the winner, who will be named at a gala ceremony in Lagos today week.
Among those dropped from the list were Mohamed Aboutrika, the veteran Egyptian midfielder who in November steered his club Al Ahli to a fifth Champions League successes inside a decade.
Also missing out was Jonathan Pitroipa, the star of the Burkina Faso side who fell just short at the African Nations Cup in South Africa at the start of the year and the World Cup qualifying play-offs.
Both were expected to be the closest challengers to Toure, the favourite in a year in which there were no outstanding individual achievers.
Toure helped the Ivory Coast to World Cup qualification and re-affirmed his position as a leading figure in the English Premier League with Manchester City.