The Nigeria Football Federation announced on Tuesday that Nigeria will host the CAF Awards ceremony and the 48th Ordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football later this year.
This development marks the country’s return to the center of African football’s administrative calendar after years away from both events.
In a statement on Tuesday, the NFF said President Bola Tinubu approved the hosting of both events after he met with CAF President Patrice Motsepe on the sidelines of the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Kenya.
“The President announced this at the ongoing Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, following a meeting with CAF President, Dr. Patrice Motsepe,” the NFF said in a statement issued by Director of Communications Ademola Olajire.
CAF Director of Communications Lux September also told ESPN that the meeting included more expansive conversations between the two sides.
“They discussed several topics, including government cooperation, football, and the private sector in Nigeria and Africa,” September said.
CAF will hold the 48th Ordinary General Assembly in October, while the date for the CAF Awards ceremony remains unannounced.
This will mark the first time the CAF Awards return to Nigeria since January 2017, when Abuja hosted the 2016 edition at the International Conference Centre.
That event was the fifth time Nigeria had hosted the awards since 2005. Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang won the Men’s Player of the Year award, and Cameroon’s Gaëlle Enganamouit won the Women’s Player of the Year.
It will also be the first time since 2022 that the ceremony will not take place in Morocco. The North African nation hosted four consecutive editions from 2022 through 2025, staging the event in Rabat and Marrakech.
The CAF General Assembly, which brings together presidents of CAF’s 54 member associations, representatives from the six zonal unions, and senior football officials from across the continent, last convened in Nigeria in February 2009, when Lagos hosted the congress at which elections to the CAF and FIFA Executive Committees took place.
