Nigeria will host the 2026 CAF Awards ceremony in Lagos this December, ending a four-year run of the event being held exclusively in Morocco and marking the country’s return to the centre of African football’s most prestigious annual celebration.

The announcement came following a high-level meeting between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and CAF President Dr. Patrice Motsepe on the sidelines of the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, where Tinubu formally approved Nigeria’s bid to stage both the awards ceremony and the 48th CAF Ordinary General Assembly.

The General Assembly, which brings together the presidents of all 54 CAF member associations alongside representatives of the six zonal unions and senior football administrators from across the continent, will be held in Abuja in October 2026.

The Lagos gala in December will then serve as the season’s grand finale African football’s equivalent of a night at the Oscars, honouring the best players, coaches, clubs, and national teams on the continent over the past year.

The meeting in Nairobi featured a notable gathering of Nigerian football’s most influential figures. NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau was present, as was former NFF president and Special Adviser to the CAF President, Amaju Pinnick. Minister of Foreign Affairs Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu and CAF Acting General Secretary Samson Adamu also attended the discussions, underlining the diplomatic weight Nigeria brought to securing the hosting rights.

It will be the first time Nigeria has hosted the CAF Awards since January 2017, when the ceremony took place in Abuja.

On that occasion, Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez claimed the men’s Player of the Year award, while Asisat Oshoala won the women’s equivalent a victory she would go on to make a habit of, eventually extending her record to six titles. Prior to 2017, Nigeria had staged the event three other times, including in Lagos in 2015, when Ivory Coast’s Yaya Touré claimed his fourth consecutive African Player of the Year award at the Eko Hotel Convention Centre and a teenage Oshoala announced herself on the continental stage by winning her maiden women’s award on home soil.

The ceremony that Nigeria is inheriting had become increasingly associated with Morocco. Since 2022, Rabat and Marrakesh had alternated as venues through four consecutive editions, with the most recent held in Rabat on November 19, 2025.

That night belonged overwhelmingly to the Atlas Lions, with PSG defender Achraf Hakimi winning Men’s Player of the Year after guiding his club to both the UEFA Champions League and Ligue 1 titles. Compatriots Yassine Bounou and Ghizlane Chebbak took Goalkeeper of the Year and Women’s Player of the Year respectively, while Othmane Maamma was named Young Player of the Year. Nigeria’s presence was not entirely absent, however Chiamaka Nnadozie retained the Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year award for a second straight year, and the Super Falcons were honoured as Women’s National Team of the Year.

With the ceremony coming to Lagos, anticipation is already building around the prospect of Nigerian players contending for the continent’s top individual honour on home soil. Victor Osimhen, who won the men’s award in 2023, and Ademola Lookman, who claimed it in 2024, will both be eyeing a strong campaign in the 2025-26 season to put themselves in contention.

The Super Falcons, reigning WAFCON champions following their 3-2 final victory over Morocco in 2024, will also have a compelling case in the women’s categories, especially if they defend their continental title at the upcoming Women’s Africa Cup of Nations scheduled for the latter half of 2026. Rasheedat Ajibade, who finished runner-up at the 2025 ceremony, will be particularly motivated to go one better with the event on Nigerian soil.

Beyond the football, the hosting of both events is expected to generate significant commercial activity and international visibility for Nigeria, with delegations and media from across the continent converging on Abuja and Lagos later in the year.