AMR ZAKI Favorite For BBC African Footballer of the Year Award - Five Player Shortlist Announced

BBC African Footballer of the Year Award five-player shortlist has been announced. The nominees are: Mohamed Aboutrika, Emmanuel Adebayor, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o and Amr Zaki. The winner would be decided by public voting online and by text messaging. British bookmaker Victor Chandler has made Amr Zaki its favourite this year with odds of 7/4. Betting Choice takes a look at the profiles of all the 5 nominees: Mohamed Aboutrika Midfielder who plays for his country Egypt and Egyptian club team, Al Ahly. He was the top scorer with 4 goals in the Nations cup which Egypt won. Aboutrika scored the decisive goal against Cameroon in the final to secure victory for his country. He is worshipped in Egypt ever since. He was also instrumental in his club team winning their sixth African Club crown this year. Emmanuel Adebayor Forward who plays for his country Togo and English club team, Arsenal. Winner of the BBC African Footballer of the Year for 2007. Very important member of the Arsenal team. Scored 4 of the 6 goals when his country Togo defeated Swaziland in Oct 2008 during the World Cup Qualification Rounds. Didier Drogba Striker who plays for his country Ivory Coast and English club team ,Chelsea. Apart from leading his country to the semi finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana in 2008, Drogba has mostly been in news for the wrong reasons. There have been rumours of him leaving Chelsea soon but now the things appear to be otherwise. Samuel Eto Forward who plays for his country Cameroon and Spanish club team, Barcelona. 2008 has been a year full of with some great performances by Samuel Eto. He started by scoring 5 goals in the Africa Cup of Nations where Nigeria came second. He became the all-time record goal scorer for the tournament by bringing his tall to 16. This was followed by some downswing on the club front at Barcelona and soon his place in the club team was in danger. However, Samuel Eto managed a huge comeback when he first led Cameroon to the final phase of World Cup qualifying and then scored the fastest hat trick for his club team Barcelona on his return to the team. This was followed by 4 out of 6 goals against Real Valladolid within two weeks. Amr Zaki Forward who plays for his country Egypt and Egyptian club team, Zamalek. He is currently on a one year loan to the English Premier League team, Wigan and has become a household name in England with his performance till now. He is currently the second leading goal scorer in the Barclays English Premier League and scored seven times in his first eight games for Wigan including two goals in victory over Liverpool. He is already being touted as one of the top strikers in Europe and is tipped for move to a bigger club soon. Earlier in the year he had been instrumental in Egypt winning the Africa Cup of Nations by scoring 4 goals for them. He is one of the strongest contender for the BBC African Player of the Year award. VCBet is offering the following odds on the five nominees for - BBC African Footballer of the Year 2008 Amr Zaki 7/4 Didier Drogba 7/2 Emmanuel Adebayor 7/2 Mohamed Aboutrika 7/2 Samuel Eto`o 4/1