Dressed in a white suite and looking like man ready to celebrate an arguably deserved victory, Dede Ayew and most present at the International Conference Center, Abuja were shocked to the bone when it was announced that the best African Player of the year 2015 is actual Gabonese Pierre Emerick Aubameyang.
It was harsh on Dede because the Award looked like his to lose after Yaya Toure, the man widely expected to win was actually awarded the first runner up position.
In a Nations Cup Year, the general practice and indeed many pundits’ view was that performance in the 2015 Nations Cup carried more weight than any non CAF sanctioned competition.
However, the Issa Hayatou’s Confederation of African Football had another idea: for the first time in the history of the Awards, The African Player of the year went to a player whose National Team failed to qualify beyond the group stage of the Orange African Cup of Nation
Tipped to come third due to his poor National team record and his club side failing to qualify for the Champions League in 2015, audience and Pundits were amazed that the Dortmund man’s performance in the first half of the 2015/2016 German top flight league is deemed more remarkable than finishing first or second in the African Cup of Nations.
Whereas many connoisseurs of the game expected Yaya Toure’s success with his national team and his contribution to Manchester City’s progress in the Champions League gave him the edge over Dede Ayew who was expected to give the Ivorian a run for his money due to his massive contribution in the Black Stars run to the finals of the Nations Cup coupled with the fact that he has been one of the best players in arguably the World’s Best League this season, Aubameyang was seen as a complete outside who only made it to the final 3 due to his impressive goal scoring run since August.
Ivory Coast and Ghana and Indeed Yaya Toure and Dede Ayew will feel hard done by whoever had a hand in the final verdict. The football world thinks so too.
FULL LIST OF 2015 GLO CAF AWARDS WINNERS
Player of the year: Pierre Emerick Aubameyang
National Team of the Year: Cote D’Ivoire
Women’s National Team Of The Year: Cameroon
Club Of The Year: TP Mazembe of DR Congo
CAF Fairplay Award: Allez Casa
Most Promising Talent: Nigeria’s Etebo Oghenekaro
Youth Player Of The Year: Victor Osimhen
Coach Of The Year Award: Herve Renard
Women’s Player Of The Year: Gaelle Enganamouit
Referee Of The Year Award: Bakary Papa Gassama of Gambia
African Legends Of The Year: C.K Gyamfi from Ghana, Samuel Leppe from Cameroon
African Player Of The Year Based In Africa winner is Mbwana Aly Samatta
Football Leader Of The Year - Mr Abdoqaini Said Arab
Special Platinum Awards - President Buhari of Nigeria
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