2026 CAF Awards: Date, venue, nominees and voting details

South African players and teams will be looking to win various accolades when the 2026 CAF Awards take centre stage in Lagos, Nigeria in December.

Bafana Bafana, Banyana Banyana and Mamelodi Sundowns are well represented on the list of nominees for the prestigious awards which feats the finest African footballer annually.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) already released a shortlist of those contesting for the main award; The African Player of the Year and among them is Mamelodi Sundowns and Bafana midfielder Teboho Mokoena.

Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi, the 2025 winner, will be looking to join the exclusive list of multiple winners this year and is joined on the list by Teboho Mokoena, Manchester United and Ivory Coast’s Amad Diallo, Ghana’s Antoine Semenyo of Manchester City former winner Sadio Mane of Senegal and Al-Nassr is among the 10 nominees.

Banyana Banyana captain Thembi Kgatlana is among the nominees for the Women’s Player of the Year award.

With voting already underway ahead of the gala in Lagos on December 2, Afrik-Foot fills you in on all you need to know about the 2026 CAF Awards.

When is the CAF Awards 2026?

The CAF Awards 2026 will take place on Wednesday, December 2, 2026 with the ceremony beginning at 20:00 South African time.

Where will the CAF Awards 2026 take place?

After Morocco hosted the last four editions, Nigeria will stage the 2026 CAF Awards at the Professor Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and the Arts, popularly known as the National Theatre, in Lagos.

Lagos last staged the CAF Awards in 2017.

CAF Awards 2026 nominees

Men’s Player of the Year nominees

Morocco Achraf Hakimi won the 2025 African Player of the Year Award and he leads the shortlist for 2026 as well.

Achraf Hakimi (Morocco/Paris Saint-Germain)

Teboho Mokoena (South Africa/Mamelodi Sundowns)

Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast/Manchester United)

Yoane Wissa (DR Congo/Newcastle United)

Antoine Semenyo (Ghana/Manchester City)

Ismael Saibari (Morocco/Bayern Munich)

Brahim Diaz (Morocco/Real Madrid)

Ismaila Sarr (Senegal/Crystal Palace)

Pape Gueye (Senegal/Villarreal)

Sadio Mane (Senegal/Al-Nassr)

Other men’s categories

There are various other categories at the CAF Awards including;

Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year Nominees

Ronwen Williams (South Africa), Oussama Benbot (Algeria), Vozinha (Cabo Verde), Yahia Fofana (Ivory Coast), Lionel Mpasi (DR Congo), El-Mahdi Soliman and Mostafa Shobeir (Egypt), Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti and Yassine Bonou (Morocco), Edouard Mendy (Senegal).

Men’s Interclub Player of the Year Nominees

Khuliso Mudau and Teboho Mokoena (South Africa), Abdennour Belhocini and Ahmed Khaldi (Algeria), Mahmoud Hassan Trezeguet and Mohamed Shehata (Egypt), Mohamed Rabie Hrimat, Mounir Chouiar and Sofiane El Moudane (Morocco) and Abdel Raouf (Sudan).

Men’s Coach of the Year Nominees

Miguel Cardoso (Mamelodi Sundowns) Lamine N’Diaye (USM Alger), Pedro Leitao Brito (Bubista) (Cape Verde), Sebastien Desabre (DR Congo), Hossam Hassan (Egypt), Moatamed Gamal (Zamalek), Alexandre Santos (ex-AS FAR), Mohamed Ouahbi (Morocco), Walid Regragui (ex-Morocco), Pape Thiaw (ex-Senegal).

Men’s Young Player of the Year Nominees

Ibrahim Maza, Christian Kofane, Christ Inao, Yan Diomande, Hamza Abdelkarim, Caleb Yirenkyi, Ismael Kamissoko, Abdellah Ouazane, Ayoub Bouaddi and Ibrahim Mbaye.

Men’s National Team of the Year Nominees

South Africa, Algeria, Cabo Verde, Ivory Coast, DR Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia.

Men’s Club of the Year Nominees

Mamelodi Sundowns, CR Belouizdad, USM Alger, AS Maniema, Zamalek, AS FAR, Olympic Safi, RS Berkane, Al Hilal and Esperance Sportive de Tunis.

Women’s Player of the Year Nominees

Morocco midfielder Ghizlane Chebbak was crowned the finest female African footballer in 2025 but she has not made the shortlist in 2026.

Thembi Kgatlana (South Africa)

Marine Dafeur (Algeria)

Marie Ngah Manga (Cameroon)

Michaely Bihina (Cameroon)

Monique Ngock (Cameroon)

Portia Boakye (Ghana)

Tabitha Chawinga (Malawi)

Temwa Chawinga (Malawi)

Hanan Ait El Haj (Morocco)

Barbra Banda (Zambia)

Other women’s categories

Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year Nominees

Kaylin Swart (South Africa), Chloe N’Gazi (Algeria), Michaely Bihina (Cameroon), Cynthia Konlan (Ghana), Mercy Sikelo (Malawi), Fatoumata Karantao (Mali), Khadija Er-Rmichi (Morocco), Christiana Uzoma (Nigeria), Adji Ndiaye (Senegal) and Hazel Nali (Zambia).

Women’s Young Player of the Year Nominees

Romaine Gandonou (Benin), Maeva Nyadjou (Cameroon), Grace-Ruth Sery and N’Sira Ouédraogo (Côte d’Ivoire), Rose Kadzere (Malawi), Kautar Azraf (Morocco), Seimeyeha Janet Akekoromowei and Oluwakemi Adegbuyi (Nigeria), Adji Ndiaye (Senegal) and Winfrida Gerald (Tanzania).

Women’s National Team of the Year Nominees

South Africa, Algeria, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Morocco and Nigeria.

Women’s categories yet to be announced

Women’s Interclub Player of the Year

Women’s Coach of the Year

Women’s Club of the Year

CAF will determine these nominees after the end of the 2026 Women’s Champions League on November 15.

Who are South Africa’s representatives at the CAF Awards 2026?

Teboho Mokoena: Men’s Player of the Year & Men’s Inter-Club Player of the Year

Ronwen Williams: Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year

Khuliso Mudau: Men’s Interclub Player of the Year

Thembi Kgatlana: Women’s Player of the Year

Kaylin Swart: Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year

Miguel Cardoso: Men’s Coach of the Year

Bafana Bafana: Men’s National Team of the Year Nominees

Banyana Banyana: Women’s National Team of the Year Nominees

Mamelodi Sundowns: Men’s Club of the Year

How voting works for CAF Awards 2026

For the CAF Awards 2026, voting runs from November 5 to November 20, 2026.

Voting involves:

CAF Member Associations

CAF-affiliated clubs

Eligible coaches

Eligible national team captains

These stakeholders are invited to cast their votes for the outstanding players, coaches and teams in the respective categories.

The system is designed to ensure that the selection process reflects different perspectives across African football rather than relying on a single group of voters.

Can fans vote for the CAF Awards 2026?

No, fans are not eligible to vote at the CAF Awards 2026.

Past CAF Awards winners

YEAR	MEN	COUNTRY	WOMEN	COUNTRY
2025	Achraf Hakimi	Morocco	Ghizlane Chebbak	Morocco
2024	Ademola Lookman	Nigeria	Barbra Banda	Zambia
2023	Victor Osimhen	Nigeria	Asisat Oshoala	Nigeria
2022	Sadio Mane	Senegal	Asisat Oshoala	Nigeria
2021	NOT AWARDED		NOT AWARDED
2020	NOT AWARDED		NOT AWARDED
2019	Sadio Mane	Senegal	Asisat Oshoala	Nigeria
2018	Mohamed Salah	Egypt	Thembi Kgatlana	South Africa
2017	Mohamed Salah	Egypt	Asisat Oshoala	Nigeria
2016	Riyad Mahrez	Algeria	Asisat Oshoala	Nigeria
2015	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Gabon	Gaelle Enganamouit	Cameroon
2014	Yaya Toure	Ivory Coast	Asisat Oshoala	Nigeria
2013	Yaya Toure	Ivory Coast	NOT AWARDED
2012	Yaya Toure	Ivory Coast	Genoveva Anonma	Equatorial Guinea
2011	Yaya Toure	Ivory Coast	Perpetua Nkwocha	Nigeria
2010	Samuel Eto’o	Cameroon	Perpetua Nkwocha	Nigeria
2009	Didier Drogba	Ivory Coast	NOT AWARDED
2008	Emmanuel Adebayor	Togo	Noko Matlou	South Africa
2007	Frédéric Kanouté	Mali	Cynthia Uwak	Nigeria
2006	Didier Drogba	Ivory Coast	Cynthia Uwak	Nigeria
2005	Samuel Eto’o	Cameroon	Perpetua Nkwocha	Nigeria
2004	Samuel Eto’o	Cameroon	Perpetua Nkwocha	Nigeria
2003	Samuel Eto’o	Cameroon	Adjoa Bayor	Ghana
2002	El Hadji Diouf	Senegal	Alberta Sackey	Ghana
2001	El Hadji Diouf	Senegal	Mercy Akide	Nigeria
2000	Patrick Mboma	Cameroon
1999	Nwankwo Kanu	Nigeria
1998	Mustapha Hadji	Morocco
1997	Victor Ikpeba	Nigeria
1996	Nwankwo Kanu	Nigeria
1995	George Weah	Liberia
1994	Emmanuel Amunike	Nigeria
1993	Rashidi Yekini	Nigeria
1992	Abedi Pele	Ghana