Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor (] ; born 26 February 1984) is a Togolese professional footballer who plays as a striker for Turkish club İstanbul Başakşehir.
 He previously played for English clubs Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace, as well as French sides Metz and Monaco and Spanish team Real Madrid.
 He was voted African Footballer of the Year for 2008 while playing at Arsenal.
Chérif Soulegmane, also known as Chérif Souleymane, (born 20 October 1944 in Kindia) is a former Guinean footballer.
 He is considered among the finest footballers Guinea has ever produced.
 He was named the France Football African Footballer of the Year and the African Footballer of the Year (the only Guinean to receive that honour) in 1972 while playing with Hafia FC in Conakry.
Alex Harlley (born 28 June 1992) is a Togolese professional footballer currently playing for the Atlanta Silverbacks.
 He is the nephew of Emmanuel Adebayor.
The African Footballer of the Year award, presented to the best African footballer each year, has been conferred by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since 1992.
 An earlier "African Footballer of the Year" Golden Ball award was given out between 1970 and 1994 by "France Football" magazine.
 The changes resulted in parallel Golden Ball awards given out to Abedi Pele and George Weah in 1993 and 1994 by the magazine although the CAF sponsored awards for those years were won respectively by Rashidi Yekini and Emmanuel Amuneke, as well as two awards given to Abedi Pelé in 1992. "
France Football" discontinued the election from 1995 after the European Ballon d'Or – also awarded by the magazine – had been opened to all players in the European leagues.
Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (] ; born 11 March 1978) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a striker for American club Phoenix Rising FC.
 He is the all-time top scorer and former captain of the Ivory Coast national team.
 He is best known for his career at Chelsea, for whom he has scored more goals than any other foreign player and is currently the club's fourth highest goal scorer of all time.
 He has been named African Footballer of the Year twice, winning the accolade in 2006 and 2009.
The BBC African Footballer of the Year (previously known as the BBC African Sports Star of the Year and the BBC African Sports Personality of the Year) is an annual award given to the best African footballer of the year as voted by the BBC radio listeners.
 Voting is done via SMS and online.
Raymond Bwanga Tshimen (born 4 January 1949 in Élisabethville, Belgian Congo) is a former footballer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
 Bwanga won the 1973 African Footballer of the Year while with TP Mazembe in Lubumbashi.
 During his playing days in the early and mid 1970s he was nicknamed "Black Beckenbauer" by the African and French press due to his playing style.
Tarak Dhiab (Arabic: طارق ذياب‎ ‎ , born January 15, 1954 in Tunis) is a former footballer from Tunisia.
 The African Footballer of the Year in 1977, he is listed by the Fédération Tunisienne de Football as having 107 caps for the Tunisian national football team, although this number has not been ratified by FIFA.
 At the 1978 FIFA World Cup, he was a member of the Tunisian national team that was the first national team from African to win a World Cup match.
 Tarak Dhiab was chosen The Tunisian footballer of the 20th century.
George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah (born 1 October 1966) is a Liberian humanitarian, politician, and retired professional footballer who played as a striker.
 Regarded as one of the greatest African players of all-time and as one of the best forwards of his generation, in 1995 he was named FIFA World Player of the Year and won the Ballon d'Or, becoming the first African player to win these awards.
 In 1989, 1994 and 1995, he was named the African Footballer of the Year, and in 1996, he was named African Player of the Century.
 Known for his acceleration, speed, and dribbling ability, in addition to his goalscoring and clinical finishing, Weah was described by FIFA as "the precursor of the multi-functional strikers of today".
 In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.
Frédéric Oumar Kanouté (born 2 September 1977) is a retired Malian professional footballer who played as a striker for several top-tier clubs in Europe, enjoying his greatest success with La Liga side Sevilla FC.
 Kanouté was named the 2007 African Footballer of the Year, the first player born outside Africa to win the award.

Question: Which professional footballer is uncle to the African Footballer of the Year for 2008?
Answer: Alex Harlley