The fact that CAF released a list of top 3 contenders for the APOTY award omitting an influential team player like Enyeama who has in recent time made his country and continent proud with his stellar performance in Lille Metropole, France, and in his place Didier Drogba who we know is a prolific striker, but had a less impressive year.
Even Jonathan Pitroipa who had an interesting year with Burkina Faso was suspiciously removed from the list.CAF later proved that Drogba was really just a filler on that list when they omitted him from the list of Africa's best XI (Eleven). Surprisingly, Enyeama and Emenike, Aubameyang and Pitroipa, made it into the Africa best XI team Drogba.
It is apparent that the chances of an Anglophone country, Nigeria especially, winning CAF APOTY is next to nothing since they are out- numbered by the Francophone countries and the CAF Chairman is not surprisingly French. To make matters worse, he read his speech at the 2013 CAF Awards in French, without an English translator.
Going by the words of an online post, "A Nigerian will have to end the year with at least 50 goals and 35 assists to win this award". This could not be more true, has the basis of the award not shifted to individual brilliance as against individual and team achievements.
Let’s go back in time to the 1998 CAF awards, where JJ Okocha was a top contender alongside the Moroccan Mohammed Hadji. With a spectacular year in PSG, and his wonderful France '98 World Cup exploits, Okocha, no gainsaying was the favourite to win the award. As we all know, Okocha lost this award to
Hadji, who was awarded the title based on the fact that Egypt won the Burkina Faso '98 AFCON.
Also, in 2003, Okocha once again was in the race to win the much in demand APOTY title to add to his recently acquired BBC APOTY award year, but Okocha was robbed of the award, and given to Eto'o. Then, the CAF executives after acknowledging Okocha’s magnificent play that year gave the reason that "Okocha didn't win any trophies in the year under review".
Now in 2013, Mikel Obi, having bagged an AFCON gold medal, and gaining Nigeria’s first AFCON title in 19 years (in the process ending Yaya Toure's CIV's hopes in the same tournament) and an Europa League trophy with his club, Chelsea, was no doubt the preferred candidate to win based on the requirements used in previous CAF awards, but he amazing lost the award because Yaya Toure scored more goals than he did in the year under review.
Here lies the controversy of football awards based on Individual brilliance or Trophies won? Or do you just change the criterion depending on the year to favour certain players? Are we now saying that players should via for their personal glory and sacrifice the success or their team in the process? One would think football being a fundamental team sports would promote teamwork, recent awards are making that assertion redundant.
Though, we were made to understand that it is the coaches and captains of all 53 nations’ football teams that vote, and in the words of an online blogger, "I really can't say since nobody has uploaded a video showing these people voting. In fact, the voting in CAF is done in a secretive manner, almost like the selection of the Pope of the Catholic Church, so we really don't know what happens behind closed doors. If we are to believe that truly it's the votes of coaches and captains that count, can you guys explain how Drogba lost the 2008 title to Kanoute, despite his awesome year? Because if we remember clearly, Drogba had refused to show up for the award in Togo and you, CAF threatened to make sure he didn't win it as punishment- and truly, he didn't".
On the world level, the question of the FIFA Balon d’or award being political was raised again when in the tightest vote for years, Bayern Munich star Frank Ribery was squeezed into third place by Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at the annual ceremony in Zurich.
The French attacking midfielder was part of the Bayern team that won the Champions League, Bundesliga, German Cup, Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup, while Ronaldo's Real Madrid ended the year without a trophy and still went home with the trophy. Ribery won UEFA's equivalent award for the best player in Europe and although Ronaldo's individual performances were nothing short of brilliant, Ribery feels his achievements should have counted for more.
"I won everything, with the team and individually. Ronaldo won nothing," he said in an interview with Munich's TZ newspaper. "I feel I had earned this award. It's all politics."
Ribery appeared to suggest changes were made in this year's voting system deliberately to help Ronaldo's cause. After the deadline was extended, Ronaldo went on to almost single-handedly earn Portugal a place in the World Cup finals at the expense of Sweden. "It was clear that Ronaldo would win it," said Ribery. "The voting deadline was extended by two weeks. This had never happened before. It wasn't about football. It was a political decision."
Then People columnist Jimmy Greaves, revealed why he came third in the 1963 contest behind Lev Yashin and Gianni Rivera
"Some cynics have suggested deadlines were shifted this time to ensure the Portuguese took the award, but that’s nothing compared to what I was up against back then.
"With the Red Army probably behind the winner, Lev Yashin, and the Mafia no doubt supporting second-placed Gianni Rivera, I really never stood a chance.
"Funny enough, I didn’t actually know I’d come third until I was looking through the list of past winners in the wake of Ronaldo’s result. But lo and behold, there I was in the history books behind my old mates.
"It was quite a compliment, but perhaps even more so seeing Gianni there because I taught him everything he knew during our time together at AC Milan. He was a superb footballer, a beautiful footballer was Gianni.
Danny Blanchflower once said "The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It’s nothing of the kind. The game is about glory. It is about doing things in style, with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom."
And he was right. There are certain players who get the job done but that’s all they do. And I’m not saying that is a bad thing, because they still get the job done, but there are other players who look a class above while doing it.
They’re stylish and smooth, and everything about them oozes class. Ronaldo and Messi, the two main protagonists this year, are of that ilk and so was Gianni.
He was a wonderful player to play with, a fine midfielder, and one of the guys I fell in with in my time in Italy. He was a good bloke, spoke very good English and actually went on to become a member of the Italian Parliament. I’m sure he saw some suspect voting during his time as an MP as well.
Lev was a great player, too, a great goalkeeper. You’ve got Gordon Banks and I heard Michel Platini moaning because Franck Ribery hadn’t won, but you wouldn’t see Boris Karloff beating Brad Pitt in a best-looking male award and that’s all it is these days.
It’s all about sponsors, television and big business and, frankly, it’s a load of old cobblers. Who can say categorically that so and so is the greatest footballer in the world anyway? These things are always a matter of opinion."
But the question remains "What is the criteria for choosing ‘Player’s of the Year’ or, is it just about who the politics favours?"
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