CAF announces 2 December date for 2026 Africa Player of the Year awards in Lagos

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will hold its 2026 Africa Player of the Year awards ceremony in Lagos, Nigeria, on Wednesday, 2 December.

The event is scheduled to begin at 20:00 Cairo time and will return to Lagos for the first time since the 2014 edition.

This year’s ceremony will take place at the Professor Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and the Arts, commonly known as the National Theatre.

Awards will be presented in 18 categories, including the prizes for Africa’s best men’s and women’s players.

Coaches, goalkeepers, emerging talents, clubs and national teams will also be recognised for their performances during the year.

CAF said voting for the 2026 awards has already begun and will run from 5 to 20 November. The process covers both the men’s and women’s categories.

Member associations and clubs are taking part in the voting, while eligible coaches and team captains have also been given the opportunity to cast their ballots.

CAF said the system was designed to ensure representation from across African football and would be conducted according to principles of fairness and transparency. Independent monitoring will also be used to safeguard the integrity of the results.

Zamalek are among the nominees for the award for Africa’s best club.

Egypt and Barcelona forward Hamza Abdelkarim is in contention for the continent’s best young player award, while the Egypt national team have been nominated for best national team.

Egypt manager Hossam Hassan and Zamalek manager Moataz Gamal are both candidates for the best coach prize.

The award for best player based in Africa includes former Al Ahly player and current Al Riyadh midfielder Mahmoud Hassan “Trezeguet”, as well as Zamalek midfielder Mohamed Shehata.

Al Ahly goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir and Zamalek goalkeeper El Mahdy Soliman are nominated for Africa’s best goalkeeper award.

Egypt captain Mohamed Salah, described as a star of Turkish club Trabzonspor, was not included among the nominees for the 2026 Africa Player of the Year award.