The Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Abuja on Monday announced the names of three top nominees for the 2015 African Footballer of the Year Award.
The names were announced at a joint press briefing by the CAF, organisers of the most prestigious annual African footballer of the year award and its exclusive sponsor, Globacom, the Next Generation Network at a joint press conference held at Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja on Monday.
The three nominees, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Gabon & Borrussia Dortmund of Germany, four-time African Player of the Year, Yaya Toure of Cote d’Ivoire and Manchester City and Andrew Ayew of Ghana and Swansea City FC were announced by CAF Executive Committee Member, Moucharafou Anjorin, who represented CAF at the event.
CAF also released the names of top three finalists for the Africa-based ‘Player of the Year’ Award. They are: Mbwana Aly Samatta of Tanzania and TP Mazembe, Baghdad Bounedjah of Algeria and Etoile du Sahel and Robert Kidiaba of Dmocratic Republic of Congo and TP Mazembe.
The list was prepared through a vigorous selection process by the Technical, Football and Media Committees of CAF, taking into account the performance of the players for their national teams and clubs from January to November of each year.
The King will be crowned at the Awards Night holding at the International Convention Centre, Abuja on January 7, 2016.
Also released is the list of nominees for other categories of the Awards. Nominated for Women Player of the Year are the duo of Gabrielle Onguene and Gaelle Enganamouit of Cameroon, Ngozi Ebere of Nigeria, N’rehy Tia Ines of Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana’s Portia Boakye while the Youth Player of the Year has Adama Traore of Mali, Kelechi Nwakali of Nigeria, Samuel Diarra of Mali, Victor Osimhen of Nigeria and Yaw Yeboha of Ghana as nominees.
For the Coach of the Year Award, Baye Ba of Mali U- 17 team, Emmanuel Amuneke of Nigeria’s U-17 team, Fawzi Benzarti of Etoile Sportive de Sahel, Herve Renard of Cote dIvoire and Patrice Carteron of TPMazembe were nominated while Azubuike Okechukwu of Nigeria, Djigui Diarra of Mali, Etebo Oghenekaro of Nigeria, Mahmoud Abdelmonem of Egypt, and Zinedine Ferhat of Algeria were shortlisted for the Most Promising Player of Year Award.
Others are African Legend Award which will be decided between Charles Kumi Gyamfi of Ghana and Samuel Mbappe Leppe of Cameroon and National Team of the Year Award which will be contested for by Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali U-17, Nigeria U-17 and Nigeria U-23 teams.
USMA of Algeria, TP Mazembe of DR Congo, Orlando Pirates of South Africa and Etoile Sportive du Sahel of Tunisia were nominated for Club of the Year Award while in the Women National Team of the Year category Ghana, Camerron, South Africa and Zimbabwe were shortlisted.
Five referees including Alioum of Cameroon, Bakary Papa Gassama of Gambia, Eric Arnaud Otogo Castane of Gabon, Ghead Zaglol Grisha of Egypt and Janny Sikazwe of Zambia will compete for the Referee of The Year Award. The prestigious Platinum Award will be presented to President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria for being the host and for his passionate commitment to the development of football.
The Glo-CAF Awards gala has become one of the world’s most iconic sports awards ceremonies, providing Africa with a reputable forum for recognising and rewarding excellence in the various departments of football.
Globacom Limited and CAF have been in partnership for the past 11 years, and have worked together to make the African Best Football Player Awards glamorous, thereby stimulating the growth of African football.
Speaking at the event, Globacom’ s Business Director, North West, Kemi Kaka who represented the company at the occasion, said that “This is the 11th year of Glo-CAF partnership and we at Glo take pride in the significant strides our alliance with CAF has achieved in raising the quality and popularity of football in Africa.”
Kaka said: “Globacom will continue to use its clout in sports sponsorships in Africa to encourage people in sports, African Culture and business to excel.”