By Timothy Dehinbo
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed that the 2016 Gala event of the prestigious Glo-CAF Awards will be held on Thursday, January 5, 2017 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.
The capital city of Nigeria, Abuja, is hosting the awards for the third time, having hosted the inaugural edition in 2005 and the 2015 edition.
Africa’s highest football body, CAF, in a statement said “the 2016 Glo-CAF Awards will be held in the city of Abuja, Nigeria and the new African Footballer of the Year, the greatest African football legends and 15 winners in other categories will be unveiled during the Gala night.”
Other categories include African Player of The Year (Based in Africa), National Team of The Year, Club of The Year and Coach of The Year. Also to be unveiled are Most Promising Talent, Women’s National Team of The Year, Woman Player of The Year, Referee of The Year, African Legend, CAF Fair Play Award, Platinum Award – which is usually reserved for the President of the host country, Africa Finest XI and Youth Player of The Year.
Borussia Dortmund of Germany winger and Gabonese International, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Gabon is the current African champion, having won the last edition while the 2015 African Player of the Year – Based in Africa- is Mbwana Ally Samatta of Tanzania.
The Glo- Sponsored annual award is expected to congregate top football celebrities and government officials across Africa, the statement said.
Globacom took over the sponsorship of awards in 2005 and the event has been held in several cities across Africa. Accra, Ghana hosted the 2006 edition, while the event moved to Lome, Togo, in 2007. Nigeria’s commercial nerve center, Lagos, hosted the event in 2008 before it moved back to Accra in 2009. The 2010 edition of the award took place in Cairo, Egypt, while Accra hosted the event back-to-back in 2011 and 2012. Lagos again hosted the 2013 and 2014 editions.
