African footballers celebrated at CAF Awards 2023
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) Awards is the biggest football awards event on the African continent.
The 2023 awards ceremony was held in Marrakech, Morocco on the evening of December 11, to celebrate the best football stars on the continent.
Nigerian footballers take centre stage
Nigerian footballers Victor Osimhen and Asisat Oshoala emerged as the stars of the night. Osimhen, who has been making waves in Italy and for the Super Eagles, bagged his first CAF African Player of the Year award.
The Napoli and Super Eagles star was also recently ranked as the 8th best footballer in the world at the Balon D’or ceremony held in Paris in October.
The Nigerian would be looking to lead his Super Eagles team to glory in the African Cup of Nations in January 2024.
Oshoala clinched her sixth CAF African Women’s Player of the Year award, setting a new record.
The Nigerian star has had stellar performances for her club side Barcelona where she netted 27 goals across all competitions in Europe and Spain.
Top coaches honoured
Morocco's Walid Regragui and South Africa's Desiree Ellis were recognised as the Best Coaches of the Year in the men's and women's categories respectively.
Regragui was lauded for leading the Atlas Lions to the World Cup semi-finals in Qatar 2022, while Ellis received her fourth consecutive award for her work with Banyana Banyana.
Other accolades
Morocco and Nigeria were awarded the Men’s and Women’s National Team of the Year awards respectively, following their impressive performances.
The Male Club of the Year award was won by Egyptian giants Al Ahly, while the women’s award was bagged by Mamelodi Sundowns from South Africa.
The Best XI players in the Women’s Category were dominated by South Africa, while Morocco’s World Cup semi-final team had two members in the male version.
