TheCable

Super Eagles of Nigeria goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama, is hoping to be the first Nigerian in 15 years to win the most sought after individual prize in African football – the Glo/CAF Award.

The 23rd edition of the annual Glo-CAF Awards holds on Thursday with the Lille of France first-choice goalie in contention with three times winner, Yaya Toure of Cote d’ Ivoire and Gabonese forward, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Nwankwo Kanu was the last Nigerian to win the award in 1999, after winning it earlier in 1996. Others are Rashidi Yekini (1993), Emmanuel Amuneke (1994) and Victor Ikpeba (1997).

Enyeama’s chance of nicking the award is quite bright.

His performance, in 2014, for both club and country was exemplary. He was among the few players that had a good World Cup with the Super Eagles in Brazil which earned the team a second round spot.

Enyeama was outstanding for Lille and at a point in the season, went 11 league games with conceding a goal.

He was recently voted Ligue 1 best goalkeeper for 2014 by the prestigious French newspaper, L’Equipe. The former Enyimba keeper had earlier won the RFI – FRANCE 24 Marc-Vivien Foe Award for the best African player in the French league for the 2013-14 season.

Will Enyeama become the first goalkeeper to win the award (since it became a solely CAF affair) and in the process end Nigeria’s 16 years wait for the diadem?

Toure has a hand, well, leg, in this.

The Ivorian didn’t have a good World Cup in Brazil as his team crashed in the group stage but he helped his club, Manchester City win the Barclays Premier League.

And unlike Enyeama, Toure qualified his country for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nation.

It seems Aubameyang is just there to make up the numbers and he’s clearly the dark horse in the race for Africa’s best.

In his debut season in the German Bundesliga with Borrussia Dortmund, the Gabonese scored 13 goals and he’s looking to be a flash in the pan as he has failed to re-enact his first season wonder this term.

Dortmund are having a wretched season so far as is their striker. In 17 games, Aubameyang has managed to find the net five times.

The drama will climax when the emcee says:

And the winner is…Vincent Enyeama!

CONSPIRACY THEORY: ANGLOPHONE V FRANCOPHONE BROUHAHA

“Who will win this award?,” Sunday Oliseh, the former Super Eagles captain and host of last year’s event, asked.

“Obi,” guests at the event, comprising mainly Nigerians, screamed.

Oliseh then gave a wry smile.

“This is an African thing, we don’t have to have heart attack, and the winner is Yaya Toure.”

Nigerians love conspiracy theory and the stunned audience who were expecting to hear the name of John Obi Mikel owed the loss to Francophone gang up against Anglophone countries.

And English tongues started wagging and the question on most people’s lips was: “What yardstick did CAF use in deciding the winner?”

The argument, which always resonates in a tournament year, is that any player that leads his country to victory should automatically emerge winner of the individual award for the year.

Mikel won the Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria in 2013 and the Super Eagles even defeated Ivory Coast on their way to glory. But alas, Toure still claimed the gong.

Francophone gang up?

As if to clear the air on the choice of French-speaking Toure, CAF released on its website the results of the voting pattern by the coaches few minutes after the winner emerged.

Out of the 41 coaches that voted, Toure had 373 points to Mikel’s 265 points, Drogba placed third with 236 points.

Two players tied in fourth place –Jonathan Pitriopa of Burkina Faso and Pierre Aubameyang – after they totalled 202 points each.

The voting was based on 10 nominees with three other Nigerians – which could be argued affected Mikel’s figure. Ahmed Musa got 181 points, Vincent Enyeama 199 points and Emmanuel Emenike 191 points.

An analysis of the vote showed that 28 of the coaches voted Toure as their first choice while only four coaches had Mikel as their first choice.

The voting pattern actually destroyed the conspiracy theorists belief that Toure won due to the strength of the Francophone votes.

Anglophone countries like South Africa, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Malawi, Liberia and Swaziland preferred Toure to Mikel.

The Ivorian also enjoyed the votes of coaches from Cote D’Ivoire (expectedly), Senegal, Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Somalia, Mauritius, Eritrea, Djibouti, Comoros, Tunisia, Morocco, DR Congo, Mauritania, South Sudan, Madagascar, Seychelles, Guinea, Rwanda, Burundi and the neutral Lusophone countries of Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde.

The four countries that chose Mikel as their first choice were Nigeria, Libya, Zambia and Sudan.

If Toure wins a fourth title in a row, expect more English tongues to wag!

SIDE SHOWS

As usual, it won’t be just announcing nominees and winners in the different categories. Music and dance will add glamour to the 180-minutes show to honour African football’s finest personalities.

Top notch artistes like P-Square, Lagbaja, and Flavour will entertain the audience with their numerous hits.

Other top acts expected to perform at the event are DR Congo’s singer and guitarist, Fally Ipupa; global Jazz icon, Hugh Masekela from South Africa and Egyptian folk singer, Hakim.

Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa, Uhuru; pan African group, Cirque D’Afrique and Tanzania’s multiple award-winning singer, Diamond are also billed to perform at the show.

Ghanaian actress, Joselyn Canfor-Dumas and South African television host, Robert Marawawill take the centre stage as the emcees of the event.

A fun-filled night awaits guests at Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos on January 8, 2015.

Below are the top three for the various categories

African Player of the Year

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon and Borussia Dortmund)

Vincent Enyeama (Nigeria and Lille)

Yaya Toure (Cote d’Ivoire and Manchester City)

African Player of the Year – Based in Africa

Akram Djahnit (Algeria and ES Setif)

El Hedi Belamieri (Algeria and ES Setif)

Firmin Mubele Ndombe (DR Congo and AS Vita)

Women’s Player of the Year

Annette Ngo Ndom (Cameroon and Amazon Grimstad)

Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria and River Angels)

Desire Oparanozie (Nigeria and Guingamp)

Youth Player of the Year

Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria and River Angels)

Fabrice Ondoa (Cameroon and Barcelona)

Uchechi Sunday (Nigeria and River Angels)

Most Promising Talent

Clinton N’jie (Cameroon and Olympique Lyon)

Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon and Porto)

Yacine Brahimi (Algeria and Porto)

Coach of the Year

Florent Ibenge (DR Congo)

Kheireddine Madoui (ES Setif)

Vahid Halilhodžić (Former coach of Algeria)

National Team of the Year

Algeria

Libya

Nigeria

Women’s National Team of the Year

Cameroon

Nigeria

Nigeria U-20

Club of the Year

Al Ahly (Egypt)

AS Vita (DR Congo)

Sewe Sport (Cote d’Ivoire)

Referee of the Year

Alioum Neant (Cameroon)

Doue Noumandiez Desire (Cote d’Ivoire)

Papa Bakary Gassama (Gambia)

Football Leader of the Year

Moise Katumbi Chapwe – President of TP Mazembe (DR Congo)

African Legend award

Oryx Club (Cameroon) – winners of the maiden edition of CAF Champions League 1964