Who will succeed Adebayor? - 2010

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Who will succeed Adebayor?

03-11-2010

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The succession battle for the crown of African Footballer of the Year 2009 has reached its climax, and in the next few hours, the winner will be unveiled.

The focus will be on Accra, and attention - Banquet Hall of the State House, where the winner of the most prestigious individual honour in African football will be revealed.

The contenders to succeed Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor are Ghana’s Michael Essien, Ivorian Didier Drogba and Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o. There is no doubt that the trio are among the foremost African footballers at the moment and are ranked among the best African football experts to Europe of all time.

All three players have come thus far in their bids to be decorated as the African Footballer of the Year 2009 judging by their performances during the year under review.

Both Drogba and Eto’o have claimed the honour at least once in their career whilst Essien is hoping to be decorated for the first time ever. Drogba was crowned in 2006, whiles Eto’o grabbed a hat-trick from 2003 to 2005.

The commonest characteristics of the three players is that they all guided their national teams; Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon to the South Africa 2010 World Cup as well as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations. However, whilst Essien and Drogba were semi-finalists in the UEFA Champions League with their club Chelsea, Eto’o picked up the ultimate with Barcelona and crowning his efforts with a goal in the grand finale.

That feat earned him a place in the record books as one of few players to have scored in two finals of one of the biggest football championships around.

However, the choice for the African Footballer of the Year rests solely on the shoulders of the Coaches of the 54 National Associations affiliated to CAF. The votes of the tacticians are masterminded by the performance of a nominee during the year under review.

There will also be winners in other categories at the ceremony seeks to recognize the contributions of footballers, coaches, administrators and sponsors towards the development of the game on the continent.

For the Best African Player on the continent category, T.P. Mazembe captain Tresor Mputu Mabi, Uche Agba of Heartland FC and Abdelmalek Ziaya of Entente Setif are the contenders whilst Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana will vie for National Team of the Year gong.

African champions, T.P. Mazembe of DR Congo, losing finalists Heartland FC of Nigeria and Orange CAF Confederation Cup winners Stade Malien from Mali are competing for the Club of the Year award, while FIFA U-20 Best Player Emmanuel Adiyiah of Ghana, South African Kermit Erasmus and Nigeria U-17 star Sani Emmanuel are neck-to-neck for the Young Player of the Year award.

Newly appointed coach of Rwanda, Sellas Tetteh, who guided the Ghana U-20 team to the ultimate at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt last September, John Obuh of the Nigeria U-17 fame and T.P. Mazembe coach Diego Garzitto are up for the Coach of the Year award.

Winners will also be revealed in the Best Supporters Club category, Fair Play and the African Legend award as well as the CAF XI team.

Also, an array of globally acclaimed artistes are billed to perform at the event. Amongst them are P-Square from Nigeria, Ishmael Lo of Senegal and Ghanaian duo, Sherifatu Gunu and Kwabena Kwabena.

The event will be beamed to millions across the globe with likes of Ghana Television (GTV), SuperSport (South Africa), NTA (Nigeria), ORBT (Benin) and RTS (Senegal) among others.

This is the second time the annual awards will be staged in Ghana after 2007.

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