27th edition of CAF Awards holds in Dakar, Senegal on Tuesday

The annual CAF Awards enters its 27th edition this year and the Awards Gala will take place for the first time in Dakar, the capital of Senegal.

On Tuesday, 8 January 2019; the King of African football will be crowned at the Centre International de conférences Abdou Diouf (CICAD) in Dakar, amongst the trio of last year’s winner, Mohamed Salah of Egypt, 2015 winner Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Gabon and Senegalese Sadio Mane.

From 1992 to 2017, from Ghana’s Abedi Pele to Salah, 17 players have laid claim to the most prestigious individual honour in African football.

Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o was the first to be crowned on four occasions – 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010; a record since equalled by Ivorian Yaya Toure, who made it four wins on the trot (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014). Former Senegal forward, El Hadji Diouf also won the award twice in a row; 2001 and 2002.

However, the first player to have been named CAF African Player of the Year on two occasions was ex-Nigeria captain, Nwankwo Kanu, in 1996 and 1999. The feat was replicated by Ivorian icon Didier Drogba in 2006 and 2009.