Mustapha Hadji, Yaya Toure, Kanu Among 7 Most Controversial Africa Player of the Year Award Winners

• CAF Player of the Year Award has seen some of the finest players from the continent claim the prize
• Controversially, some players have also been handed the gong amid criticisms
• Despite his incredible skills, Nigeria's Jay Jay Okocha never won the coveted prize

The prestigious Africa Footballer of the Year Award is one prize that is conferred to the best player on the continent by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since 1992.

Prior to that, France Football magazine handed the African Footballer of the Year Golden Ball award between 1970 and 1994.

Since the prize was remodeled in 1992, Ghana’s Abedi Pele won the first edition following his sensational performance for the French club Marseille.

Nigeria’s Rashidi Yekini won the coveted prize in 1993 and the following year, his compatriot Emmanuel Amuneke claimed the award.

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However, controversies trailed how some players later won the prize and here we look at 7 controversial Africa Player of the Year Award winners.

1998: Mustapha Hadji vs Jay Jay Okocha

The 1998 CAF Player of the Year Award that was handed to Morocco’s Mustapha Hadji was labelled as a ‘great injustice’, and that the Nigerian playmaker deserved it.

Despite his incredible skills, Okocha was never crowned African Player of the Year, but he came close in 1998 before losing to Hadji by 74 points to 76.

Nigeria missed the AFCON tournament earlier in the year and Morocco could only reach the quarter-final before losing 2-1 to South Africa.

Jay Jay Okocha was in the form of his life at France 98 and was the only African named in the FIFA All-Stars XI.

Although Hadji scored a stunner at the World Cup, Okocha was practically Africa’s best player at the tournament and his performance for Fenerbahce earned a big-move move to PSG that summer.

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Many still wonder why he was not handed the prize by CAF; despite that he was the BBC Africa Footballer of that Year.

CAF reacts:

The then CAF Secretary General Moustapha Fahmy said:

"Hadji might have won because Okocha missed Burkina Faso 98, and history has recorded that the North African was the continent’s finest in that calendar year.”

1999: Kanu Nwankwo vs Sammy Kuffour

To this day, Ghana’s Sammy Kufour feels cheated that he missed out on the African Footballer of the Year Award in 1999 and 2001.

Having reached the Champions League with Bayern Munich in 1999 and won the title two years later, the former defender was not honoured with the coveted prize.

Nwankwo Kanu of Nigeria and El Hadji Diouf of Senegal won the awards in 1999 and 200,1, respectively, but Kuffour feels both should have been given to him.

Kufour said:

“Kanu and I go a long way; we have been excellent friends. We were discussing the issue, and it turned into laughter. For me, I think I deserved to win in 1999. Even the guy who came third, [Ibrahima] Bakayoko [of Mali], told me I deserved to win it.

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2006: Didier Drogba vs Samuel Eto’o

In 2006, Didier Drogba edged Samuel Eto’o to the prestigious gong, denying the Cameroonian a record fourth successive award.

It was the first time Drogba would be handed the prize after he led Ivory Coast to the final of the Nations Cup before the Elephants lost to hosts Egypt via penalties.

Eto’ had won the award the previous year, but the then-Chelsea striker turned the tables on Eto'o, securing 79 votes against his rival's 74.

Many suggest it was ‘unfair’ because Eto'o helped Barcelona to a Champions League Spanish Primera Liga double the previous season and finished top scorer at the African Nations Cup finals.

2007: Frederick Kanoute vs Didier Drogba

The integrity of the CAF Player of the Year Award was threatened after Mali’s Frederick Kanoute won the prize in 2007. Does he even deserve it?

A decision to hand Kanoute the prize reignited claims by several African players that CAF officials were corrupt at all administrative levels.

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Drogba had alleged that CAF threatened not to hand him the award if he failed to show up in Togo, the venue of the gala night. He told L’Equipe via Reuters:

“A prominent Caf official told me that if I did not come to the ceremony, the rules would be changed, and the award would be given to the second-placed player, meaning Kanoute.

“Without being disrespectful, I don’t think that the attitude of those people honours Africa.

"If I didn’t go to Lome, it was because it was two days before a quarter-final, and we have only one goal, to win the Cup.”

2008: Emmanuel Adebayor vs Mohamed Aboutrika

Football fans and pundits have alleged that Mohamed Aboutrika was denied the CAF Player of the Year Award because he was not playing in Europe.

The 2008 prize was one of the most controversial after being handed to Togo’s Emmanuel Adebayor.

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In that year, Aboutrika won the AFCON with the Pharaohs of Egypt. He also won the Egyptian Premier League, Egyptian Super Cup and the CAF Champions League with Al Ahly.

The forward also made the CAF team of the year, the 2008 AFCON dream team, was named man of the match in the AFCON final and won the BBC African Footballer of the Year award.

2013: Yaya Toure vs Mikel Obi

How did Yaya Toure beat Mikel Obi to the 2013 Africa Footballer of the Year Award? Mikel Obi was highly favoured following his exploits for Chelsea and the Super Eagles in 2013.

Mikel was part of Stephen Keshi’s squad that conquered Africa, and the team also won five categories during the CAF awards, but losing the ultimate crown would cast gloom on the other successes.

Channels TV reports that the Nigerian Super Eagles won the ‘National Team of the Year’ award, while the national Under-17 team, Golden Eaglets, also won ‘Youth National Team of the Year’ at the Glo CAF Awards 2013.

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Only Mikel Obi made the final 3-man nominees list alongside the 3rd-time winner, Ivorian Yaya Toure and his Ivorian counterpart, Didier Drogba.

2015: Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang vs Yaya Toure

Yaya Toure was disappointed that Aubameyang won the 2015 CAF Player of the Year.

Toure says the decision brought ‘shame to Africa’, further branding the idea as ‘pathetic’ and ‘indecent’. The Gabonese edged him to the gong with 143 to 136 points.

Aubameyang replied via Guardian:

“I really don’t know why he said that at all. I am not going to get angry about it and for me, it is already an old story, gone. It simply does not interest me.”

Toure suggested that having won the AFCON title that year, he deserved the award.

How Ghana legend earned Pele's name

Sports Brief earlier reported that in football, there are only two Peles, Edson Arantes do Nascimento famously known as Pele and Abedi Ayew Pele of Ghana.

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Interestingly both players were not born with the name Pele, but destiny had its way of presenting a unique name for the legends.

When the former Ghana captain was growing up, he had no idea who Pele was, it was not easy to watch games on TV during those days due to the lack of electricity.