Mbia, Aboubakar, Nkoulou nominated for Caf Awards

The trio are in line for the crown held by Yaya Toure for the past four seasons.

Stephane Mbia, Vincent Abubakar and Nicolas Nkoulou have been nominated for this's year's African Footballer of the year award.

The Indomitable Lions' trio are part of a 37-man list released by the Confederation of African Football released at the weekend.

In 2015, Stephane Mbia helped Spanish side FC Seville to back-to-back UEFA Europa League crown before moving to Turkish side Trabzonspor. He equally captained the Indomitable Lions as they qualified for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations though they failed to make it past the group stage.

Mbia won back-to-back Europa League titles with Sevilla

Vincent Abubakar had a fine season with the Portuguese side FC Porto scoring goals in all competitions as they reached the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League before finishing runners up in the Portuguese league.

Abubakar has been the main man for Porto this season

Nicolas Nkoulou was the spine for Olympique de Marseille as they missed out on a UEFA Champions League berth but secured a spot in UEFA's second-tier competition-the Europa League.

Nkoulou helped Marseille to a Europa League space

They will be up against Ivory Coast's Yaya Toure who has taken home the award in the past four seasons.

The list would be narrowed down by the end of the year.