Before the BBC African footballer of the year 2017 will be announced, we want to walk you through a little history of the BBC African Footballer of the year award. Full list of Past Winners Of BBC African Footballer of the Year Award, none footballers who have won the world and much more.
The BBC African Footballer of the year award started in the year 1992. It started life as the BBC African Sports Star of the Year award in 1992 aimed at awarding the most outstanding African sports star for a particular year.
Legendary Ghanaian footballer Abedi Pele was the winner of the inaugural edition making him the first winner of BBC African footballer of the year award. The second edition was won by an athlete and the third edition was won by the Zambian National team for reaching the AFCON finals a year after the ill-fated crash. They lost to Nigeria in the finals.
Initially this award was open to all African athletes irrespective of the kind of sports they are involved in. This explains why some athletes appear among the past winners of BBC African Footballer of the year. In this period a few outstanding African Athletes were able to clinch the prize.
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Over time, the format of the BBC African footballer of the year award has experienced some changes. It is distinctly meant for footballers now. The current format is that a shortlist of five Football players is announced following a poll of football journalists in Africa followed by a public vote which decides the best for that year.
Past Winners Of BBC African Footballer of the Year Award Who Were Not Footballers
The following are the African athletes who won the BBC African sports star of the year before it was restricted to footballer.
- Frankie Fredericks of Namibia in 1993
- Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia 1998
Some notable names among the past winners of BBC African footballer of the year include Didier Drogba, Jay-Jay Okocha, Yaya Toure, Abedi pele and George Weah.
All Past Winners Of BBC African Footballer of the Year Award
Below is the full list all the past winners of BBC African footballer of the year award. Take a look through it.
| Year | Winner | Club | Country |
| 1992 | Abedi Pele | Marseille | Ghana |
| 1993 | Frankie Fredericks | Athlete | Namibia |
| 1994 | Zambia national football team | N/A | |
| 1995 | George Weah | Milan | Liberia |
| 1996 | Emmanuel Amuneke | Sporting CP / Barcelona | Nigeria |
| 1997 | Nwankwo Kanu | Internazionale | Nigeria |
| 1998 | Haile Gebrselassie | N/A | Ethiopia |
| 1999 | Nwankwo Kanu | Arsenal | Nigeria |
| 2000 | Patrick M’Boma | Cagliari / Parma | Cameroun |
| 2001 | Samuel Kuffour | Bayern Munich | Ghana |
| 2002 | El Hadji Diouf | Lens / Liverpool | Senegal |
| 2003 | Jay-Jay Okocha | Bolton Wanderers | Nigeria |
| 2004 | Jay-Jay Okocha | Bolton Wanderers | Nigeria |
| 2005 | Mohamed Barakat | Al-Ahly | Egypt |
| 2006 | Michael Essien | Chelsea | Ghana |
| 2007 | Emmanuel Adebayor | Arsenal | Togo |
| 2008 | Mohamed Aboutrika | Al-Ahly | Egypt |
| 2009 | Didier Drogba | Chelsea | Ivory Coast |
| 2010 | Asamoah Gyan | Sunderland | Ghana |
| 2011 | André Ayew | Marseille | Ghana |
| 2012 | Christopher Katongo | Henan Construction | Zambia |
| 2013 | Yaya Touré | Manchester City | Ivory Coast |
| 2014 | Yacine Brahimi | Granada CF / Porto | Algeria |
| 2015 | Yaya Touré | Manchester City | Ivory Coast |
| 2016 | Riyad Mahrez | Leicester City | Riyad Mahrez |
For the year 2017, a short list of five players have been nominated for the BBC African footballer of the year award. The five nominated players are Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Naby Keita, Sadio Mane, Victor Moses and Mohamed Salah.
Who among the five players shortlisted for the 2017 BBC African player of the year is worthy to enter the book of history by joining the past winners of BBC African footballer of the year award? Click here to vote.