Chelsea star hits out after he and Mo Salah ignored in shortlist for prestigious award

Nicolas Jackson has called out the Confederation of African Football (CAF) after they snubbed a number of leading players from their Player of the Year shortlist.

The Senegal striker was among those to be overlooked but some other headline names have missed out - among them. The annual award was won last year by , but he too has been snubbed from the shortlist.

Borussia Dortmund's Serhou Guirassy, PSG's Achraf Hakimi and Atalanta's Ademola Lookman are among the leading contenders to land the award. Lookman scored a final hat-trick .

Brighton's Simon Adingra, Rennes' Amine Gouiri , Marseille's Chancel Mbemba, Al-Ain's Soufiane Rahimi, Bayer Leverkusen's Edmond Tapsoba, Al-Kholood's William Troost-Ekong and Mamelodi Sundowns' Ronwen Williams round out the list - which has made headlines more for the names who aren't included.

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Salah is a two-time winner but won't get the chance to add to his haul. Mohammed Kudus enjoyed a standout debut year at but too is overlooked, as is Leverkusen's Victor Boniface despite him helping the German side claim the Bundesliga title.

Jackson posted a picture on his story of the names who missed out on being nominated and tagged CAF. He simply said: "What happened?!"

Boniface too has been vocal about his snub, suggesting it was because he didn't play in the recent Africa Cup of Nations, which he missed through injury. Replying to a post which highlighted his role in helping Leverkusen to an unbeaten domestic double he said: "Rookie of the season. Team of the season. No worry I [don't] play Afcon".

The list produced by CAF looks to have played a huge onus on international exploits, overlooking a number of club successes in the process.

Brighton's Adingra set up both goals in the AFCON final for winners Ivory Coast. Nigeria's centre-half Troost-Ekong and South Africa goalkeeper Williams also had impressive tournaments. Rahimi scored eight goals in Morocco's bronze-winning campaign at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

CAF have been responsible for handing out the award since the early 1990s. Salah landed the accolade in consecutive years in 2017 and 2018. Samuel Eto'o and Yaya Toure are the most successful players, picking up the gong on four occasions.

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