Rabat – The Confederation of African Football(CAF) released a ten-man list today with the names of some of the nominees for the upcoming CAF awards. The awards will take place on January 8th, and will honor the best African association football players, staff and teams.
Leading up to the awards, the federation released the names of 10 individuals nominated by CAF officials to potentially win an award, and among them were two Moroccan football players and the head coach of the Moroccan national team.
Mehdi Benatia, who plays as a center-back for Morocco and Juventus, was nominated for “Best African Player,” while Achraf Hakimi, a right/center-back for Dortmund and the Morocco’s Atlas Lions was nominated for “African Youth Player of the Year.” Herve Renard was also nominated for “Best coach” for his success with the Moroccan national team.
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Initial voting was conducted by members of the CAF Technical & Development Committee, according to the federation’s website. A second round of voting will be held to narrow names down to the final winners.
The second vote will include CAF Media Experts, Legends, Coaches of the quarter-finalists of the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup, and Coaches and Captains of the 54 Member Associations. There will be awards for eleven categories, and the public will decide who wins the “Goal of the Year” award through online voting.
The event will take place at 1:00 AM GMT +1 on January 8 in Dakar, Senegal. Voters will review players based on their performances from February 2018 to November 2018 to determine winners.
Previously, Morocco has had four winners for Player of the Year and a CAF Legends award, among other prizes. In last year’s competition, Moroccan club Wydad AC also received the now defunct “Inter-Club Team of the Year” award.
