Emmanuel Clottey in the initial 18-man shortlist for the award

By Ameenu Shardow

Emmanuel Clottey and Asamoah Gyan have made an 18-man shortlist for the 2012 Most Popular Footballer Award.

The Ghana duo will be battling it out with likes of Samuel Eto’o, Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba, Pappise Demba Cisse, Steven Piennar and Tresor Mputu for the personal accolade which is organized by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).

Clottey and Gyan will however need to garner enough votes to make the second African shortlist of five to later contest for the global award alongside other shortlisted candidates from Europe, South America, Asia and CONCACAF.

An internet poll being run on the IFFHS website from October 15 to November 30 will be used to make the final African shortlist of five.

Emmanuel Clottey had made the initial shortlist following his explosive performance for Berekum Chelsea in their maiden African campaign.

The now Esperance player is currently the leading goalscorer in this year’s CAF Champions League with twelve (12) goals – just one shy of the all-time standing record of 13.

Gyan on the other hand has started his second season in the UAE just like he ended his maiden campaign – firing on all cylinders.

The 26-year-old was the top scorer last term with 22 goals and has already fired seven goals already this season.

Football fans are urged to vote massively for the Ghanaian candidates for the award in the link below…

http://www.iffhs.de/?b002ec70a804f4cd003f09

Full list of African players in contention

Abdelmoumene Djabou – Algeria – Club Africain Tunis

Sofiane Feghouli – Algeria – Valencia CF

Samuel Eto’o – Cameroon – FC Anzhi Makhachkala

Treasury Mputu Mabi – Congo DR – TP Mazembe Lubumbashi

Didier Yves Drogba – Ivory Coast – Shanghai Shenhua FC

Yaya Toure – Ivory Coast – Manchester City FC

Mohamed Aboutreika – Egypt – Al-Ahly Cairo

Mohamed Salah Ghaly – Egypt – FC Basel

Emmanuel Clottey Atukwei – Ghana – Berekum Chelsea FC (currently Esperance Sportive de Tunis)

Asamoah Gyan – Ghana – Al-Ain Sports Club & Cultur

Dennis Oliech – Kenya – AJ Auxerroise

Samir Aboud – Libya – Al-Ittihad Tripoli Club

Nadir Lamyaghri – Morocco – Casablanca Wydad AC

Papiss Demba Cisse – Senegal – Newcastle United FC

Pape Moussa Konaté – Senegal – FK Krasnodar

Steven Jerome Pienaar – South Africa – Everton FC

Faisal Agab Sido – Sudan – Al-Merreikh Omdurman

Youssef Msakni – Tunisia – Esperance Sportive de Tunis