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Soccer News of Monday, 11 January 2016
Source: Goal.com
Samuel Osei Kuffour
The yearly Caf Awards Gala has never been short of controversies, and the 2015 edition that came off last Friday in Nigeria hasn’t been any different.
Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ended Yaya Toure’s four-year winning streak, becoming the first Gabonese to lift the African Footballer of the Year prize, with Ghana’s Andre Ayew the other contender.
Toure called Aubameyang’s win a “shame” while Ayew claimed the gong could have gone any way but to the Gabonese.
“I think this thing has lost its credibility,” former Bayern Munich and Ghana defender Samuel Osei Kuffour told GhanaSports.
“For some time now, there have been controversies anytime Caf names the African Footballer of the Year.
“It shouldn’t be like that. Now, people don’t believe in it again. They decide on whom to give the award to, and that is bad.
“This has really made it lose its credibility and now everyone thinks Caf is bias.”
The 39-year-old also criticised Caf’s choice of personalities in presenting awards, with the African football’s governing body largely taking to officials and representatives of commercial sponsors of the event.
“Caf does not respect African legends,” Kuffour said.
“At least, the presentation of the awards should have been done by some football legends and past winners of the awards.
“That is what the Europeans normally do. They usually allow ex-footballers to do the presentation and I think, for the players themselves, it is a big privilege to receive an award from a legend or someone who has won it before.”
Kuffour was a first runner-up for the African Footballer of the Year prize in 2001, same year he won the BBC African Footballer of the Year gong.
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