Ghana international soccer star Asamoah Gyan has been shortlisted for the FIFA world player of the year awards released jointly by the sport's world governing body and France Football in Zurich on Tuesday.
Gyan was named in the 23 global soccer stars list to vie for the covet awards, known as FIFA Ballon d'Or, which would be held at the Zurich Kongresshaus on January 10, 2011.
The Ghanaian youngster helped the national soccer team, nicknamed the Black Stars, to place second at the African Cup of Nations hosted by Angola earlier this year.
He also played a key role in the team's performance at the June World Cup in South Africa, where the West Africans were kicked out from the tournament during the quarterfinals by Uruguay in a penalty shootout.
The other Africans on the list were Cameroonian and Inter Milan star Samuel Eto'o Fils and Didier Drogba of Cote d'Ivoire and Chelsea.
Conspicuously missing from the shortlisted players was Ghana international player Michael Essien who missed out as a result of a knee injury he sustained for most part of this year.
The winner of the awards would be revealed at the first FIFA Ballon d'Or gala as part of a televised ceremony at the Zurich Kongresshaus on January 10, 2011, during which the FIFA/FIFPro World XI and the FIFA Puskas Award for the most beautiful goal of the year would also be announced for the second year running.
The FIFA Presidential Award and the FIFA Fair Play Award would also be presented during the gala. The FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men's Football award and the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's Football award would be presented for the first time.
The lists of 23 male candidates were drawn up by football experts from the football committee, the technical and development committee and the committee for women's football and the FIFA women's World Cup, as well as by a group of experts from France football.
The alliance between FIFA and the Amaury Group of France to create the FIFA Ballon d'Or was signed in Johannesburg on July 5, 2010.
The award is a combination of the FIFA World Player of the Year award and the France Football Ballon d'Or.
FIFA and France Football would on December 6, 2010, announce at a media event in Paris the names of the three men and three women, as well as the three men's coaches and three women's coaches, who have received the most votes.
The new FIFA Ballon d'Or award would represent a fusion in terms of voting procedure as votes would now come from the coaches and captains of international teams, as was previously the case for the FIFA Player of the Year, and also from journalists, who used to nominate France Football's Ballon d'Or winner.
Since 2005, the two honors have always gone to the same players, with Ronaldinho recognized in 2005, Fabio Cannavaro singled out in 2006, Kaka taking the plaudits in 2007, and 2008 winner Cristiano Ronaldo then giving way to Lionel Messi in 2009.