The continent will head to Morocco on December 11 as the Confederation of Africa Football will once again present the annual CAF Awards for various categories, including the crowning of the new African Player of the Year for the men and women’s categories.

This year’s awards have more than 10 categories, but the attention of many football stakeholders and the six finalists will be on the “Men’s Best Player of the Year” and the ‘Women’s Best Player of the Year’ categories.

Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen, Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, and Algeria’s Achraf Hakimi have been announced as the three finalists in the “Men’s African Player of Year” category, while Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala, South Africa’s Thembi Kgatlana and Zambia’s Barbara Banda are in the finalists for the women’s category.

The panel of the CAF Technical Committee selected media professionals, head coaches, and captains of members’ associations’ national teams that would determine the ultimate winners of categories.

They would vote their preferred players for the “Men’s Best Player of the Year” and other categories based on the performance of the nominees between November 2022 and September 2023.

Ahead of the awards ceremony, Peoples Gazette has taken a cursory look into the achievements and performances of the six finalists in the 2023 “Men’s Best Player of the Year” and “Women’s Best Player of the Year” In the period under review.

Victor Osimhen 

The Super Eagles’ forward played a vital role in the Napoli team that won the Italian Serie A title in the 2022/23 season, ending the club’s 33-year wait for another league triumph.

For that season, the 24-year-old scored 26 goals to win the league’s top scorer, becoming the first African footballer to achieve the feat in the history of the Italian topflight division. 

He scored 31 goals during the campaign, including five in the Champions League, as Napoli reached the competition’s semifinals for the first time, cementing Oshimen’s name in the club’s history. Osimhen was named in the “Team of the Season” for the 2022/23 season and also named the league’s “Best Striker of the Season”

Furthermore, Osimhen netted 10 goals as he finished as the topscorer of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers, which has made the former Lille one of the favourites choice of football fans and stakeholders, especially in Nigeria, to win the prestigious award.

Mohamed Salah 

Salah scored 35 times for club and country in as many matches as possible as Liverpool managed to secure European football by a whisker. He also led Egypt to the 2023 African Cup of Nations finals.

Achraf Hakimi

Hakimi won the Ligue 1 with his French club Paris Saint-Germain during the period under consideration, and more importantly, he was a key member of the Atlas Lions squad, which made history at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The Moroccan national team defeated Belgium in the group stage and Spain and Portugal in the round of 16 and quarterfinals to become the first African national to reach the semifinals of the FIFA World Cup. 

Morocco were eventually defeated by France in the semifinals and also lost to Croatia in the third-place match to finish fourth in the tournament, a record achievement for an African nation.

Meanwhile, in the women’s category, Oshoala hopes to win her third consecutive award and sixth in total as the Barcelona forward tango Banda and a familiar opponent in Kgatlana.

Asisat Oshoala

The former Liverpool forward is the current holder of the award and has won two previous editions, amounting to a record five honours in total. For the period under review, Oshoala scored 27 goals and assisted seven in 40 matches.

Her goals were important as the Barcelona women’s team won the Spanish league title and the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Oshoala’s performance ultimately earned her a nomination at the 2023 Ballon d’Or.

Thembi Kgatlana

Kgatlana has been the only player since 2016 apart from Oshoala to win the CAF Women’s Player of the Year award when she clinched the award in 2018. She would want to duplicate the plaque in her cupboard again and hopes to end Oshoala’s dominance for the second time.

The Racing Louisville FC forward has established herself as an influential South African women’s national team member. She scored twice and assisted two goals at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup as the Banyana Banyana reached the round of 16 of the tournament.

Some facts about the CAF Awards

Since the CAF Awards in 1991, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast have had the most podium finishes — the two countries have finished either first, second, or third in the “Men’s African Player of the Year” 19 times each.

Ghana closely follows the two countries with 14 podium finishes, Cameroon with 11 podium finishes, Senegal with nine, Egypt with six, Liberia and Gabon tied with five podium finishes.

Meanwhile, Algeria has two podium finishes, while Morocco, Mali, Togo, and Chad are one-time top three finishers each.

Thirty-three players from 17 countries have won the men’s category since its inception in 1970, with Cameroon topping the rankings as they have won it 11 times, Ghana and Ivory Coast next with six wins each, while Nigeria has five.

Senegal and Morocco tied with four each, Algeria, Egypt and Liberia on three each, and Mali with two, while Guinea, DR Congo, Gabon, Togo, Zambia, Congo, and Tunisia are one win each.

The women’s category was introduced in 2001, with Nigeria dominating the scene. Of the 18 awards issued in the category, Nigeria has won 12 distributed between four players. 

Mercy Akide won the inaugural edition of the award, and three more Nigerians have won the prestigious award. Oshoala has won it five times, Perpetua Nwokocha four times, and Cynthia Uwak twice.

Ghana and South Africa are tied with two Women’s African Player of the Year wins each, while Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea have produced one winner each.