African Debate: Does A FIFA World Player Nomination Mean Eto'o Will Be African Player Of 2009?

In 1995, Liberian icon George Weah made history when he became the first African to be crowned the best player in the world by FIFA.

He was also European and African Player that year.

Several other top African stars like Samuel Eto'o, Didier Drogba and Michael Essien have also, over the years, been nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year, and to further underline the class and consistency of these players all three have again made the 23-shortlist for 2009.

Since Weah's feat, Cameroon striker Eto'o has come the closest to be named as the best player in the world when he placed third in the 2005 FIFA World Player Awards and fifth the following year.

However, Drogba beat Eto'o for the 2006 CAF Player of the Year.

In 2007, Eto'o was again the top African performer according to the FIFA World Player poll after he finished 12th. The CAF Award for that year was won by Mali's Frederic Kanoute in the most controversial of circumstances, so much so that organisers were far from convincing in a refutal that Drogba was stripped because he failed to attend the awards ceremony in Togo.

So bizzare and politicised was this vote that Eto'o did not make the CAF three-man short list.

While last year, Emmanuel Adebayor was, amid controversies, adjudged the best African player by CAF, he was a distant 17th in the FIFA version with both Eto'o (seventh, 58 points) and Drogba (13th, 30 points) not even on the CAF short list.

Egypt and Al Ahly star Mohamed Aboutrika and Essien were the other top nominees for the African Player of the Year. 

It therefore goes without saying that in recent times, the FIFA vote has had very little semblence or bearing to that of CAF, with only Eto'o being crowned the best best in Africa in 2005 after he finished third in the FIFA awards.

Eto'o, Drogba and Essien will most certainly not win this year's FIFA World Player gong, but they have all done enough to make the short list of nominess for the CAF African Player of the Year Award.

While Drogba and Essien guided their respective national teams, the Ivory Coast and Ghana, to qualify for next year's World Cup in South Africa as well as the African Cup of Nations, Eto'o was a key player as Barcelona landed a unique treble: the UEFA Champions League, the Spanish league title and the domestic cup.
 
Fingers crossed, Eto'o will help the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon qualify for the 2010 World Cup by next week to further improve his chances of finishing again within the top 10 nominees for the FIFA Player Award.

Recent CAF nominations and decisions have diminished the credibility of their own awards, and there can be no better time than now for the African football governing body to begin to repair the damage.

Eto'o should win his fourth CAF African Player of the Year to begin restoring the credibility to a rewards system that continues to appear as anything but that.

Samm Audu, Goal.com