Nigeria will host the 2026 CAF Awards ceremony after the confederation of Africa Football (CAF) approved Nigeria’s proposed bid to host the event.
The agreement was confirmed during a meeting in Nairobi between Tinubu and CAF president Patrice Motsepe, with the awards gala set to hold in Lagos in December 2026, while the 48th CAF Ordinary General Assembly takes place in Abuja in October.
The ceremony is widely regarded as African football’s biggest annual awards night, honouring the continent’s best players, coaches, clubs, and national teams.
The return of the gala to Nigeria ends a four-year run of the event being held exclusively in Morocco, where the last edition was staged in Rabat in November 2025, with Achraf Hakimi winning the Men’s Player of the Year award after helping Paris Saint-Germain claim the Champions League and Ligue 1 titles.
Nigeria has previously hosted the awards in Lagos in 2008 and 2013, and in Abuja in 2015 and 2017, and last staged the gala on January 6, 2017, when Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez won the men’s award and Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala claimed the women’s prize.
The 2026 edition promises a strong home-soil narrative, with a compelling contest expected for African Player of the Year between Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Achraf Hakimi and Brahim Diaz.
On the women’s side, Nigeria’s Super Falcons arrive as the defending Women’s National Team of the Year, an honour they won at the 2025 ceremony in Rabat, while goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie will look to defend her Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year crown.
Several dignitaries attended the announcement in Nairobi, including Nigeria’s foreign minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, NFF president Ibrahim Gusau, and special adviser to the CAF president, Amaju Pinnick.
