Didier Drogba is up for the Footballer of the Year award

Caf has cut down its shortlist for the 2004 Footballer of the Year award to three players.

African football's governing body originally named five players on their shortlist last month.

Reigning African footballer of the year, Cameroonian Samuel Eto'o Fils, the Ivorian striker Didier Drogba and Austin Jay-Jay Okocha captain of Nigeria have all made the final shortlist.

However, Togo's Emmanuel 'Sheyi' Adebayor of French club Monaco and South Africa striker Benni McCarthy of FC Porto in Portugal failed to make it.

Meanwhile, fears are growing that the annual awards gala to honour the continent's top performer in 2004 might turn out to be a damp squib as none of the short-listed players are likely to be in South Africa on 15 February.

Drogba and Eto'o have already committed to play in the Fifa-organised charity match to raise funds for the tsunami victims in Barcelona, Spain on the same day as the Durban banquet.

Okocha, winner of the 2004 BBC African Footballer of the Year, is also unlikely to attend the award ceremony.

The manager of his English Premiership team Bolton Wanderers, Sam Allardyce, has said he wants no distractions for his players as the season enters its most critical stage.

Nominees:

African Footballer of the Year: Didier Drogba (Chelsea and Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona and Cameroon), Jay-Jay Okocha (Bolton Wanderers and Nigeria)

Team of the Year: Ivory Coast, Morocco, Tunisia

Club of the Year: Enyimba (Nigeria), Etoile Sahel (Tunisia), Hearts of Oak (Ghana)

Coach of the year: Okey Emordi (Enyimba, Nigeria), Badou Ezaki (Morocco), Roger Lemerre (Tunisia)

Goalkeeper of the Year: Ali Boumnijel (Club Africain and Tunisia), Vincent Enyeama (Enyimba and Nigeria), Idriss Carlos Kameni (Espanyol, Spain and Cameroon)

Young Player of the Year: Marouane Chamakh (Bordeaux, France and Morocco), Ahmed Fathi (Ismaili and Egypt), Obafemi Martins (Inter Milan, Italy and Nigeria)

Best African Champions League player: Zoubeir Baya (Etoile Sahel, Tunisia), Vincent Enyeama (Enyimba, Nigeria), Ali Zitouni (Esperance, Tunisia)

African legends award: Mahmoud Al Khatib (Egypt), Pierre Kalala (DR Congo), George Weah (Liberia)

African Goal of the Year:

Flavio Amado of Angola (for Petro Atletico v Asante Kotoko in the 2004 African Confederation Cup)

Bernard Don Bortey of Ghana (for Hearts of Oak v Santos in the 2004 African Confederations Cup)

Pape Bouba Dioup of Senegal (for Fulham v Manchester United in the English Premiership)

Kalaba of Zambia (for Zambia v South Africa in the COSAFA U20 Youth Championship)

Benedict McCarthy of South Africa (for Porto FC v Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League)