Nice's Younes Belhanda and Paris Saint-Germain's Serge Aurier head the 13-strong list of nominees for the 2016 Prix Marc-Vivien Foe awarded to the best African footballer playing in France.
The honour, which was won by Southampton's Sofiane Boufal last year for his performances at Lille, will be awarded on May 15.
Boufal's Morocco international teammate Belhanda enjoyed a great 2016, shining while on loan at Schalke in the second half of last season before moving to Nice on loan from Dynamo Kiev for the current campaign.
A Ligue 1 winner with Montpellier in 2011-12, the French-born midfielder has played an integral role in Nice's surprise challenge for the Ligue 1 title, scoring three goals and providing four assists this term.
Aurier was PSG's first-choice right-back as they claimed a second successive domestic quadruple at the end of the 2015-16 season, and contributed to his club qualifying out of the Champions League group stage before the turn of the year.
The Ivory Coast international is joined in the list by international teammates Jean Michael Seri (Nice) and Giovanni Sio (Rennes), while two African Nations Cup winners with Cameroon, Benjamin Moukandjo (Lorient) and Karl Toko Ekambi (Angers), are also nominated for the award, the winner of which will be decided on by an expert panel.
The full list of nominees:
Serge Aurier (Paris Saint-Germain/Ivory Coast)
Younes Belhanda (Nice/Morocco)
Ryad Boudebouz (Montpellier/Algeria)
Famara Diedhiou (Angers/Senegal)
Karl Toko Ekambi (Angers/Cameroon)
Francois Kamano (Bordeaux/Guinea)
Benjamin Moukandjo (Lorient/Cameroon)
Steve Mounie (Montpellier/Benin)
Cheikh N'Doye (Angers/Senegal)
Jean Michael Seri (Nice/Ivory Coast)
Giovani Sio (Rennes/Ivory Coast)
Julio Tavares (Dijon/Cape Verde)
Steeve Yago (Toulouse FC/Burkina Faso)