Tanzanian International Mbwana Samatta has been touted as the player who will walk away with the prestigious African player of the year for Africa based players after he easily made it to the list of 10 shortlisted players who ply their trade in the continent.

Talented Samatta has been the creative hub through which tempo and majority of TP Mazembe’s attacking endevour are channeled through.He has scored richly deserved goals helping Mazembe to reach the finals of the prestigious CAF Champions League finals where they won 2-1 in the first leg .

Samatta has also been instrumental for Taifa Stars playing a crucial role in their World Cup qualifiers with hitherto fantastic perfomance that have left pundits wondering why the player is not in Europe.

Samatta is expected to play a pivotal role when Taifa Stars who are currently on a 10 day training camp in South Africa host Algeria in a World Cup qualifier.

AFRICA BASED AWARD NOMINEES

Abdeladim Khadrouf (Morocco & Moghreb Tetouan)
Baghdad Bounedjah ( Algeria & Etoile du Sahel)
Felipe Ovono (Equatorial Guinea & Orlando Pirates)
Kermit Erasmus (South Africa & Orlando Pirates)
Mbwana Aly Samatta (Tanzania & TP Mazembe)
Mohamed Meftah ( Algeria & USM Alger)
Mudather Eltaib Ibrahim ‘Karika’ (Sudan & El Hilal)
Robert Kidiaba Muteba ( DR Congo & TP Mazembe)
Roger Assalé (Cote d’Ivoire & TP Mazembe)
Zineddine Ferhat (Algeria & USM Alger)

NOMINEES FOR AFRICAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR

André Ayew (Ghana/Swansea City)
Aymen Abdennour (Tunisia/Valencia)
Mudather Eltaib Ibrahim ‘Karika’ (Sudan/El Hilal)
Mohamed Salah (Egypt/AS Roma)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon/Borussia Dortmund)
Sadio Mané (Senegal/Southampton)
Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast/Paris Saint-Germain)
Sofiane Feghouli (Algeria/Valencia)
Yacine Brahimi (Algeria/Porto)
Yaya Touré (Ivory Coast/Manchester City)