By David Chewe Kampamba

A Zambian soccer fan has accused the Confederation of African Football(CAF) technical committee and some African football managers of being biased and unrealistic in short listing players vying for top honours in the 2012 CAF-Glo African Footballer of the Year award following the omission of Zambian skipper and 2012 Afcon Player of the Tournament Christopher Katongo.
Kasonde Chanda, an ardent soccer fan who has followed Katongo from his playing days, accused Caf and some managers of killing the spirit of Africans and African football in general.
“How do you leave the best player of the biggest African football showpiece? Katongo proved himself not only at the Africa Cup tournament. He has continued to score vital goals for Zambia in both the 2013 Afcon qualifiers and the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. “Chanda said “I am left to wonder as to what criteria they use to qualify the nominees to the next stage. We all know what Chris did at the Afcon 2012.We also know what he has continued to do for Zambia in the qualifiers and at his club. Surely, can one say Andre Dede Ayew has performed better that Chris (Katongo)? Has Alex Song done better than Chris? Has Demba Ba outdone Chris? Even Yaya Toure, can you tell me he performed better than Chris? The answer is a categorical no! ”
Chanda added that playing for a popular club or being a popular player was not a prerequisite for winning an award. “It doesn’t mean when you are popular or when you play for a big club; you automatically qualify for Caf awards, no! Sadly this is the trend in Africa.You cant live in the past and expects good results. That’s unrealistic. If this trend continues, we are going nowhere! All fair –minded soccer followers would disagree with the top 5 nominations.Anyway, this is Africa, and this is how things are done – the African way!”
Yesterday, CAF released a 5- man shortlist for the 2012 African Footballer of the Year award in which Zambian captain and 2012 Afcon best player failed to make it to the last five. The five shortlisted players are Alexander Song, Barcelona and Cameroun; Andre Dede Ayew, Olympic Marseille and Ghana; Demba Ba, Newcastle and Senegal; Didier Drogba,Shanghai Shenhua and Ivory Coast; and Yaya Toure of Manchester City and Ivory Coast.
The final three would be announced next week while the winner will be named at the official CAF awards ceremony on Thursday December 20, in Accra, Ghana.

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