CAF has set the CAF Awards ceremony for 2 December 2026 in Lagos, five days earlier than planned. In Senegal, fans and media are contesting a calendar they deem unfavourable to Ismaïla Sarr, the Crystal Palace winger.
The date is now official: the 2026 CAF Awards will be held on 2 December in Lagos, Nigeria, as confirmed by CAF. The ceremony will take place at the Professor Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and the Arts (National Theatre) and will begin at 19:00 local time, according to ThisDay. Lagos is thus renewing with the Awards, which it had not hosted since the 2014 edition, reports Soccer Laduma.
The change is not about the venue but the calendar: the initial date of 7 December has been brought forward by five days. According to journalist Osasu Obayiuwana of the Guardian, relayed by Soccer Laduma and Le Quotidien, European clubs were refusing to release their players on that date. CAF has not publicly presented this explanation as the official reason for the shift.
Voting open until 20 November
Voting is open from 5 to 20 November in 18 categories, with captains, head coaches and member associations as voters, according to ThisDay and Soccer Laduma. Ten players feature on the shortlist for the African Player of the Year title, among them Achraf Hakimi, the Paris Saint-Germain right-back, Ismaïla Sarr, Sadio Mané, Pape Gueye, Amad Diallo, Yoane Wissa and Teboho Mokoena, the Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder.
In its statement, cited by Soccer Laduma, CAF stresses that “the new date, 2 December 2026, brings forward one of the most prestigious events in the African sporting calendar”.
The reason given: European clubs
The argument put forward by Osasu Obayiuwana can be summed up in a few words: without their clubs releasing them, the winners would not be present on the night of the ceremony. “We didn’t really have a choice, really. You put on an event and the winners aren’t there, or you change the date so that they can be there,” a CAF official said, as quoted by Soccer Laduma via the journalist.
This explanation remains attributed to the press and to an anonymous official of the body, and not to official CAF communication on the reasons for the change. The new date no longer coincides with the originally chosen deadline of 7 December.
Crystal Palace-Chelsea on the same day
In Senegal, the decision is going down badly. Local fans and media, relayed by SENTV, Seneweb and Le Quotidien, are denouncing a calendar that would penalise Ismaïla Sarr: 2 December coincides with Crystal Palace-Chelsea in the Premier League, while Achraf Hakimi’s Paris Saint-Germain play at Aston Villa in the Champions League on 8 December.
These criticisms remain those of fans and media: no available element establishes that the date was chosen to disadvantage the Senegalese winger. Voting will close on 20 November, twelve days before the Lagos ceremony.