Yaya Toure To Compete Against Ayew,Aubameyang In Caf Award

The Confederation of African Football, Caf, has named the final three for the 2015 Player of the Year award.

Cote D"Ívoire and Manchester city midfielder  Yaya Toure, is up against Ghana and Swansea's Andre 'Dede' Ayew and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Gabon and Borussia Dortmund, could be the first man to win the accolade five times.

The winner is chosen by head coaches of the FA's affiliated to Caf and ‎will be announced at a gala on the seventh of January.

Caf that named an original list of thirty- seven football players in October  and has reduced the list to ten in November.

Toure, who captained Ivory Coast to the Africa Cup of Nations title in January, has won the award for the last four years and was named the BBC's 2015 African Player of the Year last week.

Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o is the only other player to have been crowned the best on the continent four times by Caf, winning in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010.

Caf has named Baghdad Boundjah of Algeria,Etoile du Sahel  and the duo of TP Mazembe  of Tanzania's Mbwana Samatta and the DR Congo goalkeeper Robert Kidiaba for the Africa-Based Player of the Year; .


For the Coach of the Year Award, Baye Ba of Mali Under 17 team, Emmanuel Amuneke of Nigeria’s Under 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.

The quartet of USMA of Algeria, TP Mazembe of DR Congo, Orlando Pirates of South Africa and Etoile Sportive du Sahel of Tunisia have been nominated for Club of the Year Award while Ghana, Camerron, South Africa and Zimbabwe were nominated in the Women National Team of the Year category.

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 President 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 eleven years, and have worked together to make the African Best Football Player Awards glamorous, thereby stimulating the growth of African football.

Globacom’ s Business Director, North West, Mr. Kemi Kaka who represented the company at the occasion, said that "This is the eleventh 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."

The King will be crowned at the Awards Night holding at the International Conference Centre, Abuja on 7th January, 2016.

All 12 members of the NFF Executive Committee as well as the General Secretary, former NFF Presidents and General Secretaries, members of NFF Management and stakeholders will also grace the occasion.