The ceremony which awarded Africa’s best footballers and administrators was interlaced with musical performances from some artistes from the continent.

There were 7 Nigerian act, one Togolese, one Congolese, and two Ghanaian musicians (Kidi and Efya) on stage on the night.

Shatta Wale who was only billed to perform was missing in action. He told Zylofon FM in an interview that he failed to perform because he was wrongly approached for the deal.

However, a statement signed by the CAF President says Aiteo, who are the headline sponsors would be in the right position to explain why that happened.

Read the full statement below:

 CAF EXPRESSES GRATITUDE TO GHANA AND PRESIDENT AKUFO-ADDO

We wish to express our sincere gratitude to Ghana President His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for attending the AITEO CAF Awards 2017 in Accra last night.

We would like to acknowledge his extraordinary contribution to the event that made it lively as his thought-provoking message touched on some of the key things impacting the game in Africa.

We would also like to thank the former President of Ghana, His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings and his wife Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo as well as Madam Clar Weah, the in-coming First Lady of Liberia, for representing her husband His Excellency George Weah at the event.

We want to thank all the dignitaries that took the time out of their busy schedules to attend the event and also to the people of Ghana for the big turnout.

For the first time in the history of this awards ceremony, the legends of African football played a major role as they turned up in their numbers to grace the occasion.

For those who were present and for those who could not come, we are grateful and we would like to assure them that we will deepen their contribution to the development of the game in Africa.

Their presence helped to make this event a great success and their enthusiasm and positive spirit helped make our time together very productive.

For the nominees and award winners, we would like to congratulate all of them as they deserve the recognition they got. We want to encourage them and all the footballers across Africa to work harder this year to continue to hoist the flag of Africa wherever they find themselves.

We would to thank all clubs that released their players for the event particularly Liverpool Football Club of England for their outspoken show of respect for African football by releasing their top players to attend the event even though they have an important matches few hours after the event in Accra.

Our sponsors AITEO deserve big commendation as their significant support ensured the fantastic display last night. While praising their efforts we will be seeking an explanation from AITEO over the line-up of musicians for the event.

We had agreed with them, in pursuit of continental spread of the performers, to ensure a regional balance and a strong local representation of at least two musicians from the host nation Ghana – Kidi and Shatta Wale.

However, that did not happen and there is the need for an explanation from them on why that was the case in order to make next year’s event more successful.

CAF President

Ahmad

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By: Kwame Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The attacking duo are on a three-man shortlist for the Confederation of African Football Player of the Year award which will be named on Thursday.

“We sleep in a hotel, they sleep in a plane. That is all the difference,” said Klopp.

“We have to show them respect.”

The awards take place in Accra on Thursday evening with Liverpool kicking off against local rivals Everton at 19:55 GMT the day after.

Klopp says that his experience of managing the third nominee – Borussia Dortmund and Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – during his time at the German club means he understands the importance of the awards.

“If it had been a matchday they wouldn’t have asked,” he added.

“For our side, it is just a sign of respect.

“I had Aubameyang and there is nothing more important than to go there.”

The awards recognise the best male and female players from the continent and organisers expect that all previous winners since their inception in 1992 will be present.

Salah, who scored the goal that took Egypt to their first World Cup since 1990 as well as 23 in 29 appearances for Liverpool this season, won the BBC African Football of the Year award in December.

The 25-year-old missed Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Burnley on Monday with a slight groin strain and Klopp says he is a doubt for the meeting with Everton regardless of his travel.

“If Mo is not fit, it will not be for that,” he added.

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Source: BBC

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Mohammed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool) Sadio Mane (Senegal & Liverpool), Pierre Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon, Borrussia Dortmund), are up for the prestigious Best Player of Year award in Accra on January 4 after being named in the final shortlist at a short ceremony in Accra on Monday.

Pinnick, speaking exclusively to Citi Sports’ Fentuo Tahiru on the sidelines of the ceremony, expressed dissatisfaction at the exclusion of Moses in the list, and asked that CAF reviews their criteria for choosing players for the awards.

“I’m not happy because I feel that Moses should be part of the last three. The only reason why Mahrez won the award last year was because of what he did with Leicester. And Moses helped Chelsea to win the league; played in the FA Cup final; and helped Nigeria qualify for the World Cup.

“So I wonder why. I’m surprised. Maybe we should look at other criteria either than coaches who already have their mindset about who they want to vote for. Tell me what Pierre Emerick Aubameyang did last year to deserve a place ahead of Moses. Aubameyang should not be on that list. He’s struggling with Dortmund.”

“I am going to send a proposal to CAF for a new idea of selecting the players because certainly I’m not happy,” he told Citi Sports.

Mohammed Salah is odds on favorite to win the award for Africa’s Best Player, after a fantastic year in which he helped qualify Egypt for the World Cup, led them to the AFCON final which they lost to Cameroon, and has already scored 20 goals for Liverpool since joining them in August 2017.

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By: Fentuo Tahiru/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Ayew was part of the initial shortlist put together by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) but after voting was done by members of the CAF Media Committee, CAF Technical & Development Committee and half of the 20-member Panel of Experts (10 persons), the Ghanaian failed to make the cut.

The new shortlist has the likes of Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez, current Player of the Year, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Gabon, Sadio Mane of Senegal, Egypt’s Mohammed Salah and Islam Slimani of Algeria.

The winner of the Glo CAF Player of the Year will be decided from votes from “the Head Coaches/Technical Directors of the 54 National Associations affiliated to CAF plus Associate Members, Reunion Island and Zanzibar, together with the other half of the 20-member Panel of Experts (10 persons).”

CAF also announced the shortlist for Best Player based in Africa and that included:

Khama Billiat (Mamelodi Sundowns & Zimbabwe);

Keegan Dolly (Mamelodi Sundowns & South Africa);

Rainford Kalaba (TP Mazembe & Zambia);

Hlompho Kekana (Mamelodi Sundowns & South Africa);

Denis Onyango (Mamelodi Sundowns & Uganda).

Onyango, Billiat and Dolly played key roles in Mamelodi Sundowns’ capture of the 2016 CAF Champions League trophy.

The Glo CAF Awards will be held in Abuja, Nigeria on January 5.

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By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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