Yaya Toure is in line to win his fifth successive African Footballer of the Year accolade after being announced among the three finalists for the 2015 award.
The Manchester City midfielder will go up against Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Borussia Dortmund and Swansea's Andre Ayew.
Last year Toure, who captained Ivory Coast to the Africa Cup of Nations title in Equatorial Guinea in February, became the first player to win the award four times.
The 32-year-old has not played for his country since the Cup of Nations but has recently shown signs of returning to his best.
Ayew was the leading figure for Ghana in Equatorial Guinea, where they finished runners-up, and was also in fine form for Marseille in the second half of last season before the forward moved to the Premier League in the summer.
Gabon striker Aubameyang, who like Ayew is French-born, was nominated for his goalscoring exploits in the Bundesliga with Dortmund and scored his 18th goal of the season at the weekend in their 4-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
The winner will be decided by a vote of national coaches and technical directors and announced at a ceremony in Nigeria on January 7.