Controversy Over 2009 Best African Player Award

Fred Vubem Toh

15 March 2010

While the Cameroon media announced it would be awarded to Eto'o, the award surprisingly went to Didier Drogba.

The designation of Côte d'Ivoire's Didier Drogba as the best African players in 2009 has provoked a controversy among football fans across the globe. The polemic has been furthered fueled by the declaration of the Laureate, who admitted that he didn't merit the trophy. This has led football pundits to question the veracity and criteria used for the designation given that the known criteria were in Eto'o's favour. More so, Eto'o came a distant third behind Ghana's Michael Essien in the second position.

According to the Confederation of African football, the best African player award is given to any player of African origin playing within or outside Africa who excels above all in terms of achievement and performance during the year under review. The basic criteria include, the performance of the player at national and international levels, the consistency of his performance, his sports achievements, his charisma and influence and his popularity.

Going by this judgement, the award would have been attributed to Samuel Eto'o Fils given that he had a wonderful year in 2009. He was winner of the Spanish league with his former club, FC Barcelona, European Champions League, winner of the Spanish Super Cup, King's Cup and the World Cup in club football. Eto'o was instrumental in the success of his former club given that he scored 30 goals in the championship and 6 goals in the European Champions League. At the African level, Eto'o Fils was equally excellent. He was second highest goal scorer in the joint qualifiers for the nations and world cup and helped qualify Cameroon for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The controversy over the designation of Didier Drogba as the best African player in 2009 also calls to mind the designation of Italy's Canavaro as the European best footballer in 2006 by the French magazine, France Foot. Like Didier, Canavaro's designation was contested on the grounds that Samuel Eto'o and Thierry Henry were tipped favourites owing to their extra-ordinary performances that year. The disparity between popular expectation and actual designation leads one to question what credence can be given to the award given that it no longer seems to be based on merit but some unidentified considerations. The fact that the laureates were absent from the award ceremony in Ghana depicts the levity with which the actors themselves treat the award.

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