It’ll shock you – or not – to know that CAF have scrapped the African Player of the Year based in Africa award category even though a shortlist of 30 then 11 players had been released by the body.
CAF President Ahmad in a pre-award night presser, brazenly, declared the category had been scrapped because there could be only one best and “no two levels of football in Africa.”
Nigeria’s Junior Ajayi – the only Nigerian on the list – was in the running for the “home based” award, but, he can very well ditch whatever hopes he nursed.
In the words of Ahmad, Conqueror of Issa Hayatou, “There’s no two levels of football in Africa. Best is best, not best for the bad or best for the best. That’s the reason.”
“It’s very simple – we want to promote African football.”
CAF had introduced the category in order to balance out what it realized was a lopsided yet more illustrious African Player of the Year award i.e having the AFCON and CHAN.
However, it is not clear if the decision enjoys a consensus in Ahmad’s power bloc.
