PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: John Obi Mikel - How Nigeria’s skipper voted in the CAF Awards

by Graeme Jackson

Monday Jan 08, 2018. 10:00

Nigeria captain John Obi Mikel showed his patriotism in last week’s CAF Awards 2017, as he didn’t vote for any of the three front-runners for the African Footballer of the Year gong.

The prestigious award went the way of Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, who finished ahead of fellow shortlisted nominees Sadio Mane and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Yet Mikel - who, as the regular captain of an African national team, is allowed to vote in the category (as is Nigeria’s manager, Gernot Rohr) - opted to send his vote the way of compatriot Victor Moses.

Mikel was not alone in his thoughts, as Rohr also voted for the versatile Chelsea man, as did the coaches of Swaziland, South Sudan and Namibia as well as the captain of South Sudan. Moses finished fourth overall in the vote.

In the meantime, Mikel has celebrated his one-year anniversary with current club Tianjin Teda. The Nigerian midfielder officially joined the Chinese Super League side on Januar