The best African Cup of Nations tournament for many years took place in Ghana earlier this year. It showed that African football had come of age. Nevertheless, there were several examples of Africa's premier tournament being treated with disrespect. The worst example concerned the repeating African champions Egypt. Of the African Cup of Nations winning team only Middlesbrough's Mohamed Shawky and Hamburg's Mohamed Zidan played in a top European league. They could have been joined by his club colleague Mido and Feyenoord's Sharif Ekramy but injury kept both out of Hassan Shehata's final twenty-three man squad. Hosny Abd-Rabou - who went on to become the Player of the Tournament - had previous experience in Europe with an unsuccessful spell in France with Strasbourg. The majority of Shehata's squad played in Egypt, but because they play in an African league, they were treated as unproven and still are until and unless they succeed in Europe, but why should that be necessary?

Their inspirational play-maker Mohamed Aboutreika plays for Egypt's top club Al-Ahly. He had an exceptional season in 2006, bagging several medals and scoring trophy-winning goals. He was the only player based in Africa to be nominated for the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) African Player of the Year Award in 2006. Despite the most successful year of any of the candidates he failed to even make the top the three - a shameful omission. Al-Ahly won the Egyptian League: Egyptian Cup, Egyptian Supercup, CAF Champions League and African Supercup in 2006 and Egypt won the African Cup of Nations that year as well. Aboutreika scored the Nation's Cup winning penalty and he also scored the decisive goal in the Champions League final against Tunisian champions Club Sportif Sfaxien - an impressive achievement for an attacking midfielder. He was the top scorer in the Champions League that season with eight and in the Egyptian league with double that tally. His goal won the Egyptian Supercup was well. Al-Ahly also came third in the World Club Championship in 2006. They were unluckily beaten 2-1 by Brasilian champions Internacional in the semi-final with Aboutreika hitting the post. The Egyptian side beat Mexico's Club América 2-1 for third place with a brace from Aboutreika. It was the best performance by an African team in that competition. His was an absolutely phenomenal season - so good that it is difficult to see what more a player based in Africa could have done, but it wasn't enough for the judges.

The other nominees were Nwankwo Kanu, Michael Essien, Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto'o. Kanu won nothing that year. Drogba and Essien were team-mates at Chelsea. They won the English Premier League and were beaten in the FA Community Shield - the English equivalent of Egypt's Supercup. Drogba picked up a loser's medal in the African Cup of Nations in 2006 as well. They both went to the World Cup. The Ivorians were eliminated in the group stage and Ghana - missing the suspended Essien - were knocked out in the last sixteen by Brasil. Cameroun did not go to the World Cup and were knocked out on penalties in an epic shoot-out where all eleven players scored their spot-kicks in the semi-final against the Ivorians. The deadlock was broken by Eto'o blasting his second penalty well over the crossbar. Eto'o finished second in the voting to Drogba, but the top-scorer in African Cup of Nations history with sixteen had a more successful year than Drogba. Barcelona won La Liga, the UEFA Champions League and Spanish Supercup. Eto'o was also the leading marksman in the African Cup of Nations with five - a feat he matched this year as well.

Nevertheless, in terms of success and also impact it is difficult to see why Aboutreika's 2006 was not even worthy of a top three finish. To some it is seen as an achievement that he was nominated. Why? He had the most successful year of all five nominees. He won the most and scored the most important goals. Why should the fact that he played in Africa have counted against him in an award for Africans? How can African football expect to be treated with respect if it has not learned to value the contributions of Africans in their own continent? Aboutreika's 2006 was the perfect opportunity to pay a deserved tribute to an African icon and not because of a sympathy vote, but as a reward for a fantastic year. He received the consolation of the Glo-CAF award for the best player based in Africa. It was scant reward for Aboutreika's performances on the pitch that deserved recognition in the top award for African players in 2006. Instead he did not even make the top three. It was an injustice that does no favours for African football and plays into the hands of those who denigrate it without even having seen it. To his credit, William Gaillard, UEFA's Director of Communications and Special Advisor to their President, Michel Platini, wants to see cross-marketing of events across the continents so European football fans get the opportunity to see just how good African footballers who remain in that continent really are.

2008 has been a modest year for Aboutreika in comparison to two years ago. Al-Ahly easily won the Egyptian league with several matches to spare. He helped Egypt to retain the African Cup of Nations in February, scoring the only goal in the final. He was the Man of the Match in the final as well. Despite injury he returned just in time to play an important part in ensuring that Egypt progressed to the second round of qualification for Africa's World Cup. Al-Ahly reached the final of the CAF Champions League against Cameroun's Cotonsport Garoua this month. They won the first leg in Egypt 2-0 with goals from Pharaohs team-mate Wael Gomoa - with an assist from Aboutreika - and Angolan international Flavio Amado. The second leg will be played in Cameroun on November 16th.

CAF has recognised Al-Ahly's success in the Glo-CAF awards with three of the nominees coming from Egypt's top club – Aboutreika, Gomoa and Amado. The other players chosen are Tresor Mputu of the Democratic Republic of Congo's TP Mazembe and Stephen Worgu of the Nigerian team Enyimba, which has strong links with Danish club FC Midtjylland. Worgu has been linked with a move to Al-Ahly in January.

However, that is not the main the award and CAF must learn from previous errors in its main award. Last year's award was very controversial. Drogba claimed that he had been told that he had won it, but because he refused to leave la Côte d'Ivoire's team during the recent African Cup of Nations the award was given to Sevilla's Malian international Frédéric Kanouté - the first winner to be born outside of Africa. Although Kanouté had a good season with his club - including retaining the UEFA Cup - his country did little of significance. Both Mali and the Ivorians qualified for the African Cup of Nations, but Drogba took offence and announced that he did not want to be considered for the award again. It took the shine off Kanouté's win, but a year earlier there was the bigger scandal of the lack of respect shown to Aboutreika after his magnificent 2006. Eto'o, Drogba and Essien won trophies that year, but the three of them put together struggled to match Aboutreika's achievements that year. If Africans value success in Europe more than in Africa, they cannot complain if Europeans do not respect their achievements. If African football's governing body shows no respect for the accomplishments of Africans in their own continent sufficiently, they cannot Europeans to respect their achievements and they cannot expect the football world to put this right.

Three Africans are in the running for World Player of the Year – an award that Cristiano Ronaldo is rightly favourite to win. Egypt are champions of Africa for a reason. They were the best team in Africa comfortably, but they were not ranked the top team in Africa. They still aren't despite having won the African Cup of Nations twice consecutively and World Cup success has nothing to do with it. Cameroun are ranked higher, despite missing out on Germany. Europe's champions Spain are currently ranked number one in the world based on their success in the summer. Six Spaniards have made the list, although bizarrely Marcos Senna has missed out. Despite retaining the African Cup of Nations, there is not a single Egyptian on that list. It suggests that African and Egyptian achievements are not taken seriously enough.

The African presence on that list may well be exposed for the farce it is. Only Drogba, Eto'o and Arsenal's Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor made that list. They had won nothing between them in 2008. Adebayor scored goals in a losing effort. Should that be enough? Drogba's team came second in three competitions and he got himself sent off in the UEFA Champions League final. He was also injured for much of the season. Eto'o won nothing with Barcelona, but he claimed sole possession of the all-time top scorer record in the history of the finals of the African Cup of Nations and Cameroun unexpectedly reached the final of the tournament in Ghana. However, the other nominees Egypt's Amr Zaki and Mohamed Aboutreika were more successful. Zaki helped Egypt to win the African Cup of Nations and secured a move to the English Premier League. Wigan boss Steve Bruce has recently admitted regretting signing him on loan rather than outright, but Aboutreika has enjoyed an even better season. He has won trophies and scored crucial goals as well as receiving individual recognition in the final of the African Cup of Nations. For the award to regain credibility Egyptian and African achievement must be respected at least as highly as achievements in Europe, especially by CAF.