Africa
will today honour its illustrious sons and daughters who have
distinguished themselves across the world, playing or administering
football in the last one year at the 2015 Glo CAF Awards.
The
annual award, sponsored by next generation telecommunication network,
Globacom will be a gathering of top football celebrities and government
officials across Africa at the International Conference Centre in the
city of Abuja, Nigeria.
Top Sports
Administrators and Government functionaries from different parts of the world
have started arriving Abuja for the ceremony which will
be presided over by the acting President of FIFA and President of Confederation
of African Football, AlhajiIssaHayatou.
Over hundred
press men from across the globe are covering the 2015 GLO-CAF Awards,
an annual soccer event which celebrates the best of football players of African
extraction.
About two weeks ago, CAF pruned down
the final list of African Player of the Year to three players for the awards.
In the
African Player of the Year Award category, the top three players are Pierre-EmerickAubameyang of Gabon
&Borrussia Dortmund of Germany, four-time African Player of the Year, YayaToure
of Cote d’Ivoire and Manchester City, and Andrew Ayew of Ghana and Swansea City FC. MbwanaAlySamatta of Tanzania and TP
Mazembe, Baghdad Bounedjah of Algeria and Etoile du Sahel and Robert Kidiaba of
Democratic Republic of Congo and TP Mazembe are the top three nominees in the
Africa-based ‘Player of the Year’ Award.
The list was prepared through a vigorous selection process by the
Technical, Football and Media Committees of CAF, taking into account the
performance of the players for their national teams as well as clubs from
January to November of each year.
The top
acts expected to entertain guests and VIP’s at event include singing
sensation, Salif Keita, an afro-pop singer cum songwriter from
Mali, who is rated highly because of his reputation as the "Golden Voice
of Africa",Ladysmith Black Mambazo, a South African male choral
group that sings in the vocal styles of isicathamiya and mbube. AwiloLongomba,
a Congolese musician
who was a drummer in Viva la Musica, Stukas, Nouvelle Generation, Charles
NiiArmah Mensah Jnr popularlyknown by his stage name Shatta
Wale, a Ghanaian born
producer and reggae-dancehallmusician. Ahmed
Soultan, a Moroccan singer artist, considered as one of the leaders of the
"Nayda" (new urban Moroccan scene) andSammie Leigh Bush Jr. known
professionally by the mononym Sammie, an American R&Bsinger best known for his hit, "I Like It".
Some of
the biggest stars in Nigeria have been lined up to also light up the
evening. They include the wave-making hip-hop super star, DapoOyebanji, a
multi-talented and award Nigerian songwriter and performer, Mavin records’
prince and princess, Korede Bello and HadizaBlell popularly
known as Di’ja, alternative soul singer,BezIdakula, one
of Nigeria’s most prominent female singers Omawumi, Ego ‘sweet
voice’ Ogbaro and master guitarist and legendary King of
Juju Music, Sunny Ade. All of these top musicians cum entertainers
are also Globacom Ambassadors.
All roads lead to International Conference
Centre, Abuja where the new King of African football will be crowned tonight,
the organisers said in a statement.
