President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved Nigeria as host of the 2026 CAF Awards and the 48th CAF Ordinary General Assembly.
The decision was confirmed in May during the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, following talks between Tinubu's delegation and CAF President Patrice Motsepe. Both events are scheduled for October 2026 and will be staged in Nigeria, bringing Africa's top football ceremony back to the country for the first time in more than a decade. The awards will honour the best players, coaches, and national teams from the 2025/2026 season.
The Nigerian team at the Nairobi meeting included Minister of Foreign Affairs Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Nigeria Football Federation President Ibrahim Musa Gusau, and former NFF president Amaju Pinnick, who serves as special adviser to Motsepe.
The General Assembly will convene presidents and officials from CAF's 54 member associations. The award will shift from Morocco, which has hosted the last four editions in Rabat in 2022 and 2025, and in Marrakech in 2023 and 2024.
The presidency said the hosting aligns with plans to strengthen sports infrastructure, attract visitors, and promote continental unity through football.
Nigeria has a long history with the awards, having staged it four times previously, most recently in Lagos in January 2015 when Asisat Oshoala claimed her first Women's Player of the Year title.