Football enthusiasts in Kenya are set to watch live the highly anticipated CAF Awards 2022 courtesy of Pay Television Company StarTimes Media. The event which will be taking place in Rabat, Morocco will be live tonight on StarTimes World Football Channel from 10 pm.

Stiff competition is expected in both women’s and men’s categories, the awards making a return this year after being cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic that crippled football-related activities. Votes will decide the winners from captains and coaches of the Member Associations, selected journalists, CAF Technical Study Group and CAF legends.

Speaking ahead of the showcase, StarTimes Regional Marketing Director Mr Aldrine Nsubuga said, “We are proud as a broadcaster to bring the continent’s most prestigious football award ceremony to the comfort of our subscribers’ homes. Every player’s dream is to stand out individually, in a club or in country categories and we are happy to cover these moments live.”

The top three contestants for the best male footballer title will see Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, Senegal’s Sadio Mane and newcomer Edouard Mendy battle it out. The coach of the year award will see Aliou Cissé, Senegalese coach and Walid Regragui, winner of the CAF Champions League with Wydad as the big favourites. Pitso Mosimane (ex Al Ahly), Carlos Queiroz (ex Egypt), and Tom Saintfiet (Gambia) will also be in contention.

With the period under review being September 2021 to June 2022, the national team of the year category will see 2021 men’s African Cup of Nations runners-up Egypt competing for the award alongside Cameroon and Senegal National Teams.

In the women’s Player of the Year category; four-time winner Asisat Oshoala of Nigeria is in the hunt for a fifth crown, she will however face stiff opposition from Cameroonian Ajara Nchout Njoya and new entrant Grace Chanda of Zambia.

The women coach of the year category will see Bruce Mwape (Zambia), Desiree Ellis (South Africa), Jerry Tshabalala (Mamelodi Sundowns) and Reynald Pedros (Morocco) battle it out.

In the absence of a major women’s competition during the period, CAF has reviewed the selection process for this category and factored the ongoing TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco as a criterion in deciding a winner befitting of the status of the award and women’s football in general. The winner will be announced on Saturday 23 July 2022 during the final match of the Women’s AFCON.

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