Tinubu approves Nigeria’s hosting of 2026 CAF Awards

President Bola Tinubu has approved Nigeria’s plan to host the 2026 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Awards and the 48th CAF Ordinary General Assembly.

The approval was announced on Tuesday during the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, after a meeting between President Tinubu and CAF President Patrice Motsepe.

Also present at the meeting were Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Nigeria Football Federation President Ibrahim Gusau, former NFF President Amaju Pinnick, and CAF Acting General Secretary Samson Adamu.

According to the Nigeria Football Federation, the 48th CAF Ordinary General Assembly will hold in October 2026 and will bring together football leaders from CAF’s 54 member countries, zonal unions, and other top football officials across Africa.

The CAF Awards is one of the biggest football events in Africa. It celebrates the continent’s best players, teams, coaches, and officials.

The last CAF Awards ceremony was held in Rabat, Morocco, on November 19, 2025. Moroccan footballer Achraf Hakimi won the African Men’s Player of the Year award after helping Paris Saint-Germain win the UEFA Champions League and Ligue 1 titles.

Other winners included:
Yassine Bounou – Goalkeeper of the Year
Ghizlane Chebbak – Women’s Player of the Year
Chiamaka Nnadozie – Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year
Nigeria’s women’s national team, the Super Falcons, also won Women’s National Team of the Year.

Nigeria has hosted the CAF Awards four times before, with the most recent edition held in Lagos in January 2015 at the Eko Hotel and Suites.

At that event, Ivorian football legend Yaya Touré won his fourth straight African Player of the Year award, matching the record of Samuel Eto’o.

The 2015 awards also marked the beginning of Asisat Oshoala’s dominance in African women’s football, as she won her first Women’s Player of the Year award on home soil.