The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will on Thursday, January 7, 2016 name Africa’s best players of 2015 in an awards gala that will be held at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, Nigeria.
CAF 2015 Awards: Africa's finest to be named in Abuja gala
At a glance, Ghanaian and Swansea City star Andre Ayew appears to be the favourite and will slug it out with Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Yaya Toure of Ivory Coast for the African Player of the Year award.
For the Africa-Based Player of the Year category, Algeria and Etoile du Sahel’s Baghdad Bounedjah, TP Mazembe’s duo of Tanzania’s Mbwana Samatta and DR Congo’s goalkeeper Robert Kidiaba will go hammer and tongs at the top prize.
The winners will be decided by votes of the Coaches or Technical Directors of the National Associations affiliated to CAF.
Acting President of FIFA and CAF President, Alhaji Issa Hayatou will grace the event, leading a delegation of FIFA and CAF executives.
The event which is sponsored by telecommunication giant Globacom, and dubbed Glo-CAF Awards was inaugurated in 2005.
Other categories featured in this year’s event include Women’s National Team of The Year, Women’s Footballer of The Year, Most Promising Talent, Referee of The Year, Legend of The year, Fair Play Award, Platinum Award, which has only one nominee, and Africa Finest XI.
Nominees for other 2015 Caf Awards
Women’s Player of the Year:
Gabrielle Onguéné – Cameroon
Gaelle Enganamouit – Cameroon
Ngozi Ebere – Nigeria
N’rehy Tia Ines – Ivory Coast
Portia Boakye – Ghana
Youth Player of the Year:
Adama Traore – Mali
Kelechi Nwakali – Nigeria
Samuel Diarra – Mali
Victor Osimhen – Nigeria
Yaw Yeboah – Ghana
Most Promising Talent:
Azubuike Okechukwu – Nigeria
Etebo Oghenekaro – Nigeria
Djigui Diarra – Mali
Mahmoud ‘Kahraba’ Abdelmonem – Egypt
Zinedine Ferhat – Algeria
Coach of the Year:
Baye Ba – Mali Under-17
Emmanuel Amunike – Nigeria Under-17
Fawzi Benzarti – Etoile du Sahel
Hervé Renard – Ivory Coast
Patrice Carteron – TP Mazembe
Referee of the Year:
Alioum Neant – Cameroon
Bakary Papa Gassama – The Gambia
Eric Arnaud Otogo Castane – Gabon
Ghead Zaglol Grisha – Egypt
Janny Sikazwe – Zambia
African Legend:
CK Gyamfi – Ghana
Samuel Mbappé Léppé – Cameroon
National Team of the Year:
Ivory Coast
Ghana
Mali Under-17
Nigeria Under-17
Nigeria Under-23
Women’s National Team of the Year:
Ghana
Cameroon
South Africa
Zimbabwe
Club of the Year:
USM Algers – Algeria
TP Mazembe – DR Congo
Orlando Pirates – South Africa
Etoile du Sahel – Tunisia