Yaya Toure
Widely recognised as one of the finest midfielders of his generation, Yaya Toure is an absolute powerhouse - a general on the pitch who commands respect form every quarter.
He joined his current club Manchester City in 2010 and helped them win the English Premier League in 2012 - their first league title for 44 years - as well as the FA Cup and the Community Shield.
Toure has already racked up 109 games for City and scored 23 goals, including a portfolio of sensational free-kicks, and he continues to be perhaps the most important player for the club.
He joined City from Barcelona, where he spent three years and amassed a fantastic collection of honours, including two Spanish league titles, a Champions League title, a Uefa Super Cup and a Fifa Club World Cup.
Toure has also won a league title in Greece with Olympiacos and a league title in his native Ivory Coast with ASEC Mimosas.
However, Toure has experienced much disappointment on the international stage, where a golden generation of Ivorians have failed to deliver the trophy that has been expected of them - being beaten in the 2012 final by Zambia was one of the greatest shocks in African football.
Now aged 30, Toure shows no sign of slowing down and has made an excellent start to the new season with City, having already hit seven goals in all competitions and produced consistently brilliant performances.
A two-time winner of the Confederation of African Football's player of the year award, Toure is also the only African on the 23-man shortlist for this year's Fifa world player of the year.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
A former youth player at AC Milan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's career took off when joining Saint-Etienne on a permanent basis in 2011.
His spell at the club ended in July when he joined Champions League runners-up Borussia Dortmund, effectively replacing Mario Gotze after the much-heralded playmaker's move to Bayern Munich.
His spell with Les Verts ended in perfect fashion though, as the club won the 2013 French League Cup - to hand Aubameyang his first piece of silverware as a professional.
He did not score in that game but did find the back of the net 19 times in the league, with only PSG's Zlatan Ibrahmovic scoring more, while the Gabonese also registered eight assists.
Such impressive form persuaded Dortmund to part with £11m as they snapped up the son of former international Pierre on a five-year deal.
He instantly picked up more silverware as Dortmund avenged May's Champions League defeat in London by beating Bayern Munich 4-2 to win the season-opening German Supercup.
He duly became only the sixth player to score a hat-trick on his Bundesliga debut as Dortmund opened their league campaign with a 4-0 win at Augsburg.
The goals have continued to flow, with Aubameyang settling in remarkably quickly as evidenced by his seven goals from his opening 11 games for Jurgen Klopp's side.
While the 24-year-old's club career has gone from strength to strength, 2013 was a frustrating one at international level for Gabon.
However, a highlight came when he scored a hat-trick of penalties against Niger in a World Cup qualifier in June, but that was the Panthers' only victory as they stumbled to third place in their group and wrote off a trip to Brazil 2014 in the process.
John Mikel Obi
In a seven-year career at Chelsea, John Mikel Obi has played 187 games and won a host of trophies, including a Premier League title, Champions League title and four FA Cups.
Yet he might have been a Manchester United player, as the Old Trafford club thought they had signed the player from Norwegian club Lyn Oslo when he was aged 18. However, after a drawn-out and distasteful saga, Chelsea finally secure the teenager's services in June 2006.
Since then, Mikel has not looked back and has established himself as a regular for the Blues and for Nigeria, for whom he has gone on to play 51 times and helped them to win the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year.
A holding midfielder of outstanding defensive qualities and discipline, it took Mikel until September of this year to score his first Premier League goal for Chelsea in his 185th appearance for the club in a 2-0 win against Fulham.
Perhaps his finest performance came in the 2012 Champions League final against Bayern Munich, where Mikel produced a master class in defensive midfield play to help his side achieve a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes against the dominant Germans. Chelsea went on to win the penalty shoot-out and lift the trophy.
Mikel's importance to Chelsea is underlined by the fact he signed a five-year extension only last year to remain at Stamford Bridge until 2017.
Victor Moses
Aged only 22, Victor Moses is already at his fourth club. And his latest move - on loan at Liverpool from Chelsea - could determine whether he goes on to enjoy a stellar career or if he fails to quite make the top grade.
The Nigeria international has all the attributes needed to make a huge impact; he has pace to burn, an eye for goal and he is versatile enough to play as a traditional wide man or through the middle as a striker.
Moses got his first taste of senior football at Crystal Palace, where he played between 2007 and 2010, scoring 11 goals in 58 appearances for the Londoners before moving to Wigan. In two years with the Latics, he notched eight goals in 74 games.
In August 2012 he moved back to London after Chelsea finally agreed a fee of about £9m with Wigan but the forward managed only one goal in 23 games for the Stamford Bridge side.
And when Jose Mourinho returned to the club for a second spell as manager, Moses found himself out of favour.
He joined Liverpool on a season-long loan in September and made an immediate impact when he scored on his debut against Swansea. He has played seven games for the Reds, and helped the club make a strong start to the new season.
At international level, Moses committed himself to Nigeria despite having represented England at junior levels, up to the Under-21 team, and he has since helped the Super Eagles to the Africa Cup of Nations title in 2013.
Jonathan Pitroipa
The prospect of Jonathan Pitroipa emerging as a contender for this year's BBC award was remote prior to this year's Africa Cup of Nations, where Burkina Faso had been drawn in a difficult group with Zambia and Nigeria.
Yet not only did the Stallions knock out the Chipolopolo, the defending champions, they also topped their group above the Nigerians.
However, the Super Eagles would go on to beat the Burkinabe in a tight final yet it was Pitroipa - rather than any Nigerian - who was voted the Player of the Tournament.
The Rennes winger had been instrumental from the off, creating a late equaliser in the opening 1-1 draw against the eventual winners, and his form improved in the next game - scoring one and creating two as 10-man Burkina thumped Ethiopia 4-0.
That was the Stallions' first victory at a Nations Cup since reaching the last four as hosts in 1998 and Pitroipa then fired them to the semi-final when scoring in a 1-0 extra-time win against Togo.
Erroneously dismissed in the shock semi-final win over Ghana, the former Hamburg star played in the final after his red card was overturned but made little impact as a tired Burkina lost 1-0.
Nonetheless, he took his Nations Cup form into World Cup qualifying - proving a key man again as the Stallions emerged top of their group after a difficult start, and scoring a potentially crucial goal in the 3-2 win over Algeria in the first leg of their play-off.
At club level, Pitroipa finished the 2012-13 season with seven goals as Rennes finished 13th and reached their first French League Cup final, losing out to Saint- Etienne.
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