By Jide Olaniran
Achraf Hakimi of Morocco and Paris Saint Germain (PSG) and his compatriot Ghizlaine Chebbak of Al Hilal were enthroned on a night where one hundred and two minutes was devoted to glamour, glitz, music and massaging of egos at the 2025 edition of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) awards on Wednesday at the Mohammed VI , Polytechnic University in Rabat, Morocco.
The ceremony which was anchored by multiple Grammy awards winner and African music legend Angelique Kidjo and Moroccan Comedian Oualass showed how these two creatives have put in the work to produce a flawless presentation as comperes of Africa’s biggest night of rewarding exceptional in football.
The winners
It was an forgettable night for Shamirah Mabada of Uganda as she won the referee of the year in the women’s category alongside Tabara Mbochi of Senegal .
Omar Abdulkadir of Somalia and Liban Abdulrazack of Djibouti were the winners in the referee of the year men’s category.
Morocco’s football has experienced upward trajectory in the last decade and it reflects on the night as two prodigies from the north African country were the best in the young player category which saw Doha El Madani and Othmane Maamma go home with the prize and icing on the cake for the young man who was part of Morocco’s U-20 team that won the FIFA U-20 World Championship in Chile last month.
Super Falcons of Nigeria who won their 10th title at the Women Africa Cup of Nation tournament some months ago and the Morocco men’s U-20 team that puts Africa back on the map of global youth football won the team of the year in the women and men category respectively.
Nigeria’s women Goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie who moved from Paris FC to Brighton in the Women Super League in England this season made a hat-trick of carting home the award while Morocco’s Yassine Bounou was the best man for the gong among men in between the sticks .
The man who orchestrates things from the dug out for the men’s national team of Cape Verde and leading them to their first ever FIFA World Cup Bubista is named the coach of the year.
Pyramids FC from Egypt added the club of the year to their CAF champions league title as their player Fiston Mayele from DR Congo won the Inter club player of the year.
The Politics
Watching CAF President Patrice Motsepe pulled his FIFA counterpart Gianni Infantino to the podium for a remark during the awards , one had no doubt that it was time to massage the egos of politicians who are the benefactors of the game despite private businesses been the major patrons of it.
So , it was really not a surprise that politicians have finally been officially smuggled into what should be a purely African football family night of honours – let me welcome you to the CAF President’s Achievement Award category where Kenya President, William Ruto, Samia Suluhu of Tanzania and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda are the recipients, we expect the next one to come with laborious speeches from awardees reminiscent of a political rally. Up next is the FIFA peace award in a month’s time designed to take football fans around the world on an ego trip.
The Music
Ghanian musician Fuse ODG set the music tone for the night with a well choreographed movement by the dancers ,as Douaa Lahyaoui showed us a glimpse of what to expect at the opening and closing ceremonies of the African Cup of Nations which be hosted in Morocco in December 2025 to January 2026 , Congolese Awilo Longomba as a chip of the old block lived up to his reputation.
It’ s always a pleasure seeing African football legends assembled in one place like the CAF Award avails, it rekindles the memories of their impact on the game as the present talents continue to draw inspiration from them.