Drogba confirmed, should he win, he would be honoured to accept the accolade of African Footballer of the Year in March. The Chelsea striker is one of the final three nominees for the 2009 award along with Michael Essien and Samuel Eto'o and was the winner in 2006. However, the Ivory Coast striker was at the centre of controversy the following year when his participation in the African Nations Cup prevented him from attending the award ceremony in Mali. It was believed that, because of his absence, Frederic Kanoute was named player of the year instead and Drogba withdrew from the running for future African Football Confederation (CAF) awards. But Drogba has now revealed bridges have since been built with CAF. "That was the past," said Drogba. "We all sat down and spoke about it - Mr Hayatou (the CAF president) and the people from the Ivory Coast Federation - so I think everything is good now. "It is a good trophy and a big honour for a player to win it, especially this year, which is so special for the African continent. To win it would be very nice."
