The five candidates for the 2008 BBC African Footballer of the Year award have been revealed on the BBC's African sports programme Fast Track. The nominees are: Mohamed Aboutrika, Emmanuel Adebayor, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o and Amr Zaki.

Fans  can vote for their choice right up until 9 January and the winner will be announced a week later.

The prestigious award is the only one of its kind to be decided ultimately by the fans. The BBC canvassed football experts across Africa to compile the shortlist.

Last year's winner was Emmanuel Adebayor of Arsenal and Togo, who used the award to launch his so-called 'Tour of Hope' back to his home country.

Previous BBC African Footballers of the Year include Michael Essien, Jay-Jay Okocha and El-Hadji Diouf.