Get Guardian on GoogleThe 2026 CAF Awards ceremony has been moved forward, with the event set to be held on December 2nd at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and the Arts (National Theatre), Lagos.
The Awards night was scheduled for the 7th of December at the same venue but had to be moved forward after reconsideration.
According to a CAF official, European clubs are reluctant to release their players for the December 7th date, which led to CAF picking a new date for the ceremony.
The official revealed the football federation had no choice but to adjust the date; otherwise, several nominees would be absent from the ceremony.
“We had no choice really. You do an event, and the winners are not there, or you change [the date] so they can be there.”
The CAF Awards ceremony return to Niger’s largest city for the first time since 2014, with the National Theatre providing a fitting stage for rewarding excellence in the year under review and the avenue to showcase Nigeria’s cultural heritage through dance, music and other forms of artistic offerings.
The CAF Awards will honour excellence across 18 different categories, with the CAF Men’s and Women’s Players of the Year being the most anticipated.
Goalkeepers, coaches and emerging talent whose performances over the last 10 months draw attention across the continent and beyond would also be celebrated on the night.
Voting is currently ongoing and will run from November 5-20 for the men’s and women’s categories for the CAF 2026 Awards.
The voting procedure involves National team coaches, captains, CAF’s technical study group, and selected media personnel who vote directly in recognition of the most outstanding talent in various categories.
The voting process is designed to ensure fairness, integrity, and transparency and broad representation across the continent in deciding who wins in each category.
Nigerian player is nominated in the men’s and women’s categories of the Footballer of the Year çAwards.
Meanwhile, for the first time, no Nigerian player was nominated in both the men’s and women’s Player of the Year categories.
