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Didier Drogba claimed that he was stripped of the African Footballer of the Year award.

CAF admits stripping Drogba of title

Posted: 2008-02-08 09:34

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed on Thursday Didier Drogba’s claim that he was stripped of the African Footballer of the Year award because he didn’t show up to collect his title.

CAF had initially denied Drogba’s revelation that a member of their organisation had phoned him to say if he didn’t travel to Togo capital Lome his trophy would go to Frederic Kanoute.

But in a statement today they backed up the Ivory Coast star’s claim.

“Any player who is absent at its award ceremony will not be taken into consideration in placements of African Footballer of the Year,” it said.

“This decision was communicated to all those concerned on February 1 with particular reference to the award ceremony scheduled for Lome, Togo,” read the statement.

Drogba had refused to attend as he is on duty for his country at the African Nations Cup in neighbouring Ghana.

The Chelsea player revealed this week: “I received a call in the afternoon (on Friday) from a high ranking CAF official.

“He told me that if I didn’t appear at the ceremony the rules would be changed, that I would no longer be first and that the prize would go to the runner-up, Frederic Kanoute.”

Sevilla striker Kanoute duly received the honour, with Drogba’s Chelsea teammate Michael Essien, who was released by Ghana to attend, in second and Drogba third.

“If I refused to go to Lome it was first for my teammates as you don’t organise such an event just two days before a quarter-final (Monday’s game against Guinea).

“I didn’t go as well because of the son of Ulrich Stilieke (the former Ivory Coast coach) had died,” explained Drogba.

Drogba said he was pulling out of future African Footballer of the Year awards in protest at his treatment.

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Recent Comments: 26

michael: 2008-02-08 09:40

caf is a joke, even the timing of the ceremony was wrong

jack tshepo morgan: 2008-02-08 09:41

I am not suprised by the latest developments. I think the CAF Communication needs to get boot. He is making africa a laughing stock. I think the whole Exe Co needs to 2 be released.

Sanza: 2008-02-08 09:46

Tsepho I think u r right but I think not only the Communication Dept need attention but the whole CAF leadership if there is on of course. Ihlazo leli.

Raymond Sthembiso: 2008-02-08 09:59

Why were de awards not held in Chana,I think CAF is lost

Richard: 2008-02-08 10:04

Where else can u receive bad treatment,cheating.match fixing,robbery,illmanegemend...Africa my baby Africa.The whole CAF sucks .Icluding our very own Olifant and Hack

SADDAM: 2008-02-08 10:24

WHT A WORLD CLASS PLAYER!!

BUT CAF U JST STRAIGHT OUT OF THE LINE Y U DDNT TELL HIM ON TYM.

Ntlahla: 2008-02-08 10:28

Tyipical of African football administrators. They always want to make sure that its their way or the highway.

Dikotsi: 2008-02-08 10:37

Eish!! PSl, SAFA, CAF.. what's next. Thsi is all so boring. The problem is we dont like change and people like to hang on to power, no matter what mess they do. There is no pride in those people in power. The only thing that these people understand is force, brute force before they can give other people a chance. This is Africa. We aer still ruled by the old guard and they and only they "know" whats right for everybody. Ntla!!!

TT: 2008-02-08 10:39

THATS BULL SHIT NONSENSE I MEAN THE POOR GUY WAS PLAYING IN AFCON WAS HE SAPOSED TO LEAVE HIS TEAM AT A CRUCIAL STAGE OF THE TOURNEY? ANOTHER LET DOWN BY AFRICANS//

Charles : 2008-02-08 10:39

Drogba my guy, u are far worth more than these idiots, strive for FIFA World Player of the Year, not this stupid awards organised by these idiots morons whatever

Phakamisa: 2008-02-08 10:50

its a pity that a good player like Frederic Kanoute had to win it in such a contravential manner because of some stupid old men who are considered as our leaders. my opinion is that Kanoute deserved to be the first choice initially followed by Essien then Drogba.

Mashudu: 2008-02-08 10:52

It’s such a disgrace to our African Football and humiliation to Drogba. The standard of football is improving rapidly but the CAF administration standard is going down the drain because of this shenanigan management style. CAF Structure should be disbanded with immediate effect because they are taking our African football backward. We are tired of this poor administration. Mr Hayatou should do us the favour by stepping down and give way to other people with fresh ideas. Caf administrators are arrogant. In the past two days, they denied that they stripped off Drogba's award but know singing a different tune by saying that no Award will be awarded to anyone in absentia.

Lawrance: 2008-02-08 10:57

This is once again a clear indication of what the football leadership on the continent is about. What credibility will the CAF Footballer of the Year award have to the rest of the world? It's all a bog

Harry Makaringe: 2008-02-08 11:06

Guys forget that Molefi olophant is the deputy to Isa Hayatou,anyt

Boipusho: 2008-02-08 11:44

Why blame caf. This oganization is made up of our own FAs and whatever happens within Caf is a refelection of our own foodball leagues, in Nigeria where the league is in shamble, Kenya where you have two leagues in one country, Ghana where two teams can score a whooping 60 goals in two games. Im just naming only few, the list is endless. Things like these are made in Africa

Baile: 2008-02-08 11:50

We should hire a plane for all this officials from SAFA, CAF etc and make sure the engine is really not up to scratch and we hope they survive the crash in the Ocean.

Hidden : 2008-02-08 12:45

CAF is just a useless organisation. How can one organise an event such as African Player of the Year while the African Nations Cup is takeing place on another country. Those clowns and buffoons at CAF are there for themselves and no one else not even the interests of soccer

Seroto: 2008-02-08 13:22

I just read all your comments and can't stop laughing at how some of us think. I agree with everyone that members of CAF Exco have handled the whole issue in a manner unacceptable to most of us, but wudn't attribute that to the African way of doing things, as I find it quite insensitive a statement to make. Am not out to protect them for what they did but the least I think we can speculate on it's because they're of African origin as if it's only in this continent where mistake are committed.

king: 2008-02-08 14:42

flip! what CAF did to drogba is a real disgrace and a bad reflection of africa as a continent....which will be hosting the 2010 world cup....as a black i wish they know the rest of the world is watching....

Bodirile: 2008-02-08 16:27

CAF is a joke with all its Mikey mouse Exceutives who take decisions like Dictators no one is going to take Africans seriously everything we do becomes a joke.Why did they deny in the first place.I really want to see a day when these whole exec get voted out

Bodirile: 2008-02-08 16:41

We are i first grade again where you get punished for adsconding form school, sad day for African football

Abou Hakim: 2008-02-08 17:38

but the truth is Fredie Kanoute Deserves the award men....maybe if drogba wasthe runner up..yh,lol

ken gadaffi: 2008-02-08 17:56

CAF has only succeeded to take the shine off the AFCON. This year's edition of the competition is one of the best in recent time going by on the field actions but for God sake, why organizing another CAF activity in another country when all eyes were in GHANA. Wouldnt it had made more sence to present the awards at the end of the Tornament along with other personal awards........? CAF officials were only concerned about their estacodes for going to TOGO..... B...l S...T

Bass-D: 2008-02-08 18:03

This kind of treatment reflects bad about the integrity of our African administrators and belittle the image of our beloved stars. No wonder Steve Kalamazoo prefers to honour and praise himself. Does Molefi Oliphant have anything to do with this decision because here in Mzanzi we are used to that kind of bad administration.

Fafalaza: 2008-02-09 07:20

It seems to me CAF, once again, succumbed to the whims of their sponsors. In this case the award sponsors, Glo, chose nearby Togo to gain mileage and be as far away from the glare of the MTN-sponsored AFCON as possible. Moreover the same award sponsors needed the winners to be at the ceremony for obvious publicity gains and felt slighted by those not attending hence they put pressure on CAF to change the line-up. Its simply a business economics decision!
The question now is, are we honouring the best-performing African footballers or are they honouring the ones that respond to the sponsors' and CAF's directives?

StarStopper: 2008-02-12 20:22

While CAF is clearly at fault here, there's a few things that also deserved to be mentioned:
1. Although the awards were held in another country, geographically speaking, Lome is only less than 100 miles from Accra where Drogba was training with his squad. The awards were also held in the evening giving Drogba an opportunity to take a short shuttle (35-40 minutes) to Lome to receive his award. It wasn't as if they were being held in Johannesburg or Cairo.
2. Michael Essien was able to leave his team, who were also training for their Quaterfinals appearance, to attend the event.
3. When Drogba won the same award last year, he took no issue in leaving training with Chelsea, to make the intercontinental trip during mid-week of the prem season. It was to be his first time winning the award which was hotly contested between himself and Samuel Eto'o.

At this point, I think it was a battle of egos between Drogba and the CAF. My opinion is that he felt he deserved more respect this time around. Why else go public and tarnish the award for Kanoute? And why not host the awards in Africa in close proximity to the games as opposed to allowing the nominees to leave for Europe and then asking them to come back to Africa for the ceremony?