The 2024 CAF Awards will see a new Men’s Player of the Year crowned when they are staged in Marrakech, Morrocco on Monday, 16 December, the latest recipient of a prize that has celebrated the continent’s elite players in various guises since 1970.
This year’s gala ceremony will be at the Palais des Congrès with the ceremony set to kick off at 19h00 local time (18h00 GMT/ 20h00 Cairo time/ 21h00 East African time).
One of the highlights of the night will be the unveiling of the Men’s Player of the Year, with five nominees still in the running.
Cote d’Ivoire and Brighton & Hove Albion winger Simon Adingra is among the contenders, along with Borussia Dortmund’s Guinea international striker Serhou Guirassy and Morocco right-back Achraf Hakimi, who plays for Paris Saint-Germain.
Atalanta’s exciting winger Ademola Lookman will be the pick of Nigeria fans, while Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams will hope his exploits for South Africa at TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 see him claim the prize.
The African Footballer of the Year was first established by France Football magazine 54 years ago, with the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) taking over the award in 1992.
Former Mali international Salif Keïta was the very first recipient in 1970, earned while he was playing for Saint-Étienne in France.
As a teenager he was in the Stade Malien side that lost in the first CAF Champions Cup final in 1965 and thereafter moved to Saint-Étienne, where he won three successive Ligue 1 titles from 1968-70 and became a fan favourite in a golden period for one of France’s most beloved clubs.
He scored 42 goals alone in the 1970-71 season when St Etienne finished second to Marseille, where he moved in 1972.
Ibrahim Sunday (Ghana & Asante Kotoko) claimed the award in 1971 and Chérif Souleymane (Guinea & Hafia) the following year.
The France Football Award continued until 1994, by which time CAF has created their own prize two years earlier.
Abedi Pele of Ghana claimed the Award three years in a row between 1991-1993, and future Liberia President George Weah was a winner in 1995 as he also became the first player from Africa to lift the Ballon d’Or.
The record for the most Men’s Player of the Year titles is shared between ex-Cameroon international Samuel Eto’o (2003, 2004, 2005, 2010) and former Cote d’Ivoire midfielder Yaya Toure (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014). Toure is the only player to lift the award four years in a row.
Among current players, Egypt’s Mohamed Salah has two wins and Senegal forward Sadio Mane also a brace of victories.
PAST CAF AWARD WINNERS
Men’s Player of the Year
- 1992 Abedi Pele (Ghana)
- 1993 Rashidi Yekini (Nigeria)
- 1994 Emmanuel Amunike (Nigeria)
- 1995 George Weah (Liberia)
- 1996 Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria)
- 1997 Victor Ikpeba (Nigeria)
- 1998 Mustapha Hadji (Morocco)
- 1999 Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria)
- 2000 Patrick Mboma (Cameroon)
- 2001 El Hadji Diouf (Senegal)
- 2002 El Hadji Diouf (Senegal)
- 2003 Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
- 2004 Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
- 2005 Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
- 2006 Didier Drogba (Cote d’Ivoire)
- 2007 Frédéric Kanouté (Mali)
- 2008 Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo)
- 2009 Didier Drogba (Cote d’Ivoire)
- 2010 Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
- 2011 Yaya Touré (Côte d’Ivoire)
- 2012 Yaya Touré (Côte d’Ivoire)
- 2013 Yaya Touré (Côte d’Ivoire)
- 2014 Yaya Touré (Côte d’Ivoire)
- 2015 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon)
- 2016 Riyad Mahrez (Algeria)
- 2017 Mohamed Salah (Egypt)
- 2018 Mohamed Salah (Egypt)
- 2019 Sadio Mané (Senegal)
- 2020 Awards not held due to COVID
- 2021 Awards not held due to COVID-19
- 2022 Sadio Mané (Senegal)
- 2023 Victor Osimhen (Nigeria)
CAF
