As attention
shifts to the plush Eko
Convention Centre, Lagos,
the venue of the 22nd
edition of the CAF awards
gala, Goal gives a numerical
account of the awards’s facts
and records.
1- The number of times Chad
have produced a candidate
for the African Footballer of
the Year award. In 1996,
Japhet N’Doram became the
first player from the Central
African country to make the
top three shortlist of the
award. He eventually finished
as runner-up to eventual
winner Victor Ikpeba.
3- Number of times the
award has produced back to
back winners. El Hadji Diouf of
Senegal [2001-2002], Samuel
Eto’o [2003-2005] and Yaya
Toure [2011-2012].
4- Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon
(pictured) holds the record as
the player with the highest
number of wins. The
Cameroonian forward first
won it in 2003 when he took
Austin Okocha [Nigeria] and
Didier Drogba [Cote d’Ivoire]
to the cleaners, before
repeating same feat in 2004,
2005 and 2010.
5- This number represents
the most number of
consecutive nominations in
the top three without a win.
Michael Essien of Ghana holds
this record. The Chelsea ace
was first nominated in 2005
where he bowed to the duo of
Samuel Eto’o and Didier
Drogba. In his second attempt
the following year, he was
unable to get the better of
Eto’o and Drogba. 2007
provided him the best
opportunity to win the
coveted award but narrowly
lost to Frederic Kanoute of
Mali. He also lost out in the
2008 and 2009 editions.
7- Since the Confederation of
African Football took charge
of this award, the English
Premiership has produced
most winners of the award.
Arsenal FC was the first
English side to achieve this
feat when Kanu Nwankwo was
crowned in 1999 and
Emmanuel Adebayor [2008]
while Liverpool followed the
Gunners’ footstep through El
Hadji Diouf [2002] before
Chelsea turned out Didier
Drogba [2006, 2009] then
Manchester City through Yaya
Toure [2011, 2012].
9- Didier Drogba of Cote
d’Ivoire holds the record for
the most number of
nominations for this award. In
the past 10 editions [including
the 2013 edition], he has
made the top three shortlist
nine times, winning it twice
and finishing as runner up
and third place on three
occasions.
Aside from this, nine
countries have produced
winners of the past 20
editions. These countries
include Nigeria, Cameroon,
Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia,
Togo, Senegal, Mali and
Morocco.
11- Numbers of countries
that produced the top three
shortlists of this award since
inception in 1992. They
include: Nigeria, Chad, Ghana,
Morocco, Liberia, Senegal,
Mali, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire,
Togo and Cameroon

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