Egypt and AS Roma winger Mohamed Salah has been named in the final shortlist for the African Player of the Year award, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) revealed on Tuesday.
The final five-man shortlist also includes Gabon's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borrusia Dortmund), Algeria's Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City), Senegal's Sadio Mane (Liverpool) and Algeria's Islam Slimani (Leicester City).
Earlier in October, the Roma star Salah and Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny were named in the 30-man preliminary list drawn up by the African governing body.
Salah, who joined Roma from Chelsea in the summer of 2015, scored 15 goals in all competitions last season, including 14 in the Italian Serie A as his side finished third in the table behind champions Juventus and runners-up Napoli.
Salah began the new term strongly, netting eight goals in 13 league games although he was earlier criticised by coach Luciano Spalletti for wasting some easy chances.
The final short list of the best African-based player didn't include Zamalek's trio Bassem Morsi, Ayman Hefni and Ali Gabr who were all named in the preliminary one.
The 2016 Glo-CAF Awards Gala will be held on Thursday, 5 January 2017 in Abuja, Nigeria.
