African Footballer of the Year 2015 Award Nominees Announced

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has been shortlisted for the 2015 African Footballer of the Year award, giving him a chance to win the title for a record fifth time.

The 37-strong list of nominees for the prize includes 11 players based in the Premier League. Here are the stars in the hunt for the most prestigious individual award in African football, per BBC Sport:

Player	Club Team	National Team
Ahmed Musa	CSKA Moscow	Nigeria
Andre Ayew	Swansea City	Ghana
Aymen Abdennour	Valencia	Tunisia
Baghdad Bounedjah	Etoile du Sahel	Algeria
Bassem Morsi	Zamalek	Egypt
Christian Atsu	Bournemouth	Ghana
Dieumerci Mbokani	Norwich City	DR Congo
El Arbi Soudani	Dinamo Zagreb	Algeria
Faouzi Ghoulam	Napoli	Algeria
Ferebory Dore	Angers	Congo
Gervinho	Roma	Ivory Coast
Ibrahima Traore	B Monchengladbach	Guinea
Javier Balboa	Al Faisaly	Equatorial Guinea
Heldon Ramos	Rio Ave	Cape Verde
Mame Biram Diouf	Stoke City	Senegal
Max Gradel	Bournemouth	Ivory Coast
Mehdi Benatia	Bayern Munich	Morocco
Mudathir El Tahir 'Careca'	Al Hilal	Sudan
Mohamed Salah	Roma	Egypt
Nicolas Nkoulou	Marseille	Cameroon
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	B Dortmund	Gabon
Robert Kidiaba	TP Mazembe	DR Congo
Rudy Gestede	Aston Villa	Benin
Riyad Mahrez	Leicester City	Algeria
Sadio Mane	Southampton	Senegal
Serge Aurier	Paris Saint-Germain	Ivory Coast
Seydou Keita	Roma	Mali
Sofiane Feghouli	Valencia	Algeria
Stephane Mbia	Trabzonspor	Cameroon
Thievy Bifouma	Granada	Congo
Victor Wanyama	Southampton	Kenya
Vincent Aboubakar	Porto	Cameroon
Vincent Enyeama	Lille	Nigeria
Yacine Brahimi	Porto	Algeria
Yannick Bolasie	Crystal Palace	DR Congo
Yassine Chikhaoui	Al Gharafa	Tunisia
Yaya Toure	Manchester City	Ivory Coast

Toure has dominated the running over the last four years, winning it on four successive occasions. As noted by BBC Sport, a fifth here would see him overtake former Barcelona and Internazionale man Samuel Eto’o, who also has four wins.  

The victor will be announced on December 22 by the Confederation of African football at their awards ceremony.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

After the Ivory Coast, skippered by Toure, clinched the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea earlier this year, there is naturally plenty of players from the Elephants squad who have made it onto the shortlist, including Roma’s Gervinho, Paris Saint-Germain’s Serge Aurier and Max Gradel of Bournemouth.

Gradel’s Cherries’ team-mate Christian Atsu is also named after he won the Player of the Tournament award at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, inspiring Ghana to the final. His international team-mate and new Swansea City signing, Andre Ayew, also makes it in.

As noted by Squawka Football, the former Marseille man has been in excellent form at the start of the 2015-16 season for the Swans:

Other high-profile names include Roma star and Egypt international Mohamed Salah, Bayern Munich and Morocco's Mehdi Benatia and Leicester City’s Algerian sensation Riyad Mahrez.

Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

Borussia Dortmund and Gabon’s Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang is probably Toure’s fiercest competitor to win the award. As we can see here, courtesy of WhoScored.com, he’s started the campaign in blistering form for the Bundesliga giants:

Toure looks like the man likely to triumph again, though. Spearheading his country to their first continental title in 23 years represented a remarkable achievement, and while his form during the 2014-15 domestic season wasn’t quite up to his usual high standards, the 32-year-old has helped City fly out of the traps early in this campaign.