2012 Afcon winning captain Christopher Katongo has missed out on the African Footballer of the year award while Rainford Kalaba and Stophira Sunzu have made the final shortlist.

African champion defence tower Stoppila Sunzu and midfield master Rainford Kalaba will be in the Ghanaian city of Accra next month as they contend for the African Footballer of the year 2012 award.

The Chipolopolo duo battles it out against Egyptian Mohamed Aboutreika for the award reserved for African players campaigning on the continent. But Chipolopolo skipper Christopher Katongo has not made the final list of five for the prestigious African Footballer of the Year award.

Katongo was in the running for the African Footballer of the Year award earlier this month after being named by CAF in the top 10 of the continent’s players.

But when the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on unveiled the shortlists for the 2012 Player of the Year and 2012 Player of the Year on Friday, only Kalaba and Sunzu were in the running with Chris missing the cut for the African Player award.

The shortlists were unveiled at a ceremony in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, attended by CAF Executive Committee member Kwesi Nyantakyi and officials from Globacom, sponsors of the annual event that seeks to reward distinguished footballers for their exploits during the year under review.

There were five nominees for the Player of the Year and three for the Player of the Year (Based in Africa), which were reached after votes from the Head Coaches or Technical Directors of the National Associations affiliated to Caf.

The process began with a selection of pool of players by the Football, Media and Technical Committees of Caf taking into consideration the performance of the players this year.

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