Arsenal’s high scoring striker Emmanuel Sheyi Adebayor became the 1st Togolese player to win the Confederation of African Football Player Of the Year. In an awards ceremony in Lagos, Nigeria, Adebayor beat out Egypt & Al-Ahly midfielder Mohamed Aboutrika and Ghana & Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien for the honor.

Once again the player that deserved to win The Player Of The Year Award didn’t win it.  In South America, Juan Sebastián Verón won South American Footballer Of The Year when it should have been Ecuador’s Joffre Guerrón.  This time Mohamed Aboutrika was the one who got screwed and had to settle for the Inter-Club Player of the Year.

(Photo Courtesy of Getty Images)

Mohamed Aboutrika wins every major trophy in Africa for 2009, was the most influential player for both Egypt & Al-Ahly and gets the Inter-Club Player of the Year!  That’s like hooking up with the ugly fat girl while some scrub pulls Sofia Vergara.  Aboutrika should be insulted and act like Kanye West does when Kanye doesn’t win an award.    

Look, Emmanuel Adebayor had a breakout season and he was one of the top candidates when we previewed the African Player of the Year award but he was not more deserving than Mohamed Aboutrika.  The Egyptian playmaker won trophies & scored goals in crucial situations.  Adebayor scored a ton of goals for a trophy-less team. 

Adebayor winning over Aboutrika sends the message that scoring goals for a trophy less side in Europe is more impressive than being the catalyst for  teams that won the two most important trophies on the African continent.   The CAF values scoring goals in Europe more than winning massive trophies on its own continent.  Please tell me that Africa is not becoming Eurocentric and falling into the trap of European ball being the “end all be all.”

There is talk of a bias in the CAF in favor of sub-Saharan national teams.  That talk is probably based in the disappointment of Aboutrika not winning the Africa POY.  Egypt did deservedly win the lion’s share of awards so maybe that makes up for Aboutrika being slighted but the Egyptian FA should be upset that Aboutrika didn’t win the continent’s most glamourous footballing honor.  Fact is, this time the CAF should have followed the BBC in naming Mohamed Aboutrika as the African Footballer Of The Year.

Despite Aboutrika getting the shaft, there was still much to celebrate so check out who won CAF awards for 2008 at the award gala in Lagos, Nigeria. 

By the way, the CAF Awards Gala has to be the best awards ceremony on the planet.  Not everyone is in a suit & tie or fancy dress, people are wearing traditional garments from their respective nations giving the CAF Awards Gala a unique flavor.  Can’t say that about any other confederations awards gala.

Congratulations to Cristiano Ronaldo for winning the 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year award. While Cristiano Ronaldo wasn’t my choice for the award, its easy to see why he won but the beef I have with this award has to do with the choices for the shortlist of candidates.

If this is supposed to be the “World” Player of the Year than how come only players based in Europe were on the shortlist. In geography class, we were taught that there were 7 continents and life has shown that Europe isn’t the only place that produces fine things, whether its goods & services or footballers.

In a year, when you had an Olympic tournament, a Euro 2008, a African Cup of Nations, World Cup qualifying, and various continental club tournaments full of outstanding performances, don’t tell me that FIFA couldn’t find players not based in Europe to put on the “World” Player of the year shortlist. COME ON, MAN!

Let’s begin. How could Deco be on the shortlist when he did nothing in ’08 and Joffre Guerron of Liga De Quito, the face of the 1st ever Ecuadorean side to win the Copa Libertadores is not on the shortlist. Gigi Buffon of Juventus is a great keeper but does he deserve to be on the shortlist over Sebastian Battaglia, the influential midfielder of Boca Juniors who actually won a trophy in 2008.

What about Mohamed Aboutrika? The Pharoahs playmaker had a double of his own winning the African Champions League with Al-Ahly and the African Cup of Nations with Egypt and he was not on the shortlist while Steven Gerrard of Liverpool was. Gerrard didn’t win anything and England didn’t even participate in Euro 2008.

The Chelsea duo of Didier Drogba & Frank Lampard are good players no doubt, but did not deserve to be shortlisted. Even Kaka who is a great player had a down year and shouldn’t have been shortlisted. Clear them out to make room for these guys who should have been on the shortlist:

Server Djeparov the Uzbekistan midfielder who won the Asian Footballer of the Year has helped Borat’s most hated rival into the final phase of Asian World Cup qualifying.

Guillermo Barros Schelotto, the ex Boca star won the MLS MVP & MLS Cup MVP in leading the Columbus Crew to its 1st MLS Championship.

Yasuhito Endo, the Gamba Osaka playmaker led the Japanese side to an Asian Champions League trophy and a 3rd place finish in the FIFA Club World Cup.

Lucas Barrios was a goal scoring beast for Colo Colo this year and didn’t get any love from FIFA or El Pais. Him & Guerron have legitimate beefs especially with El Pais.

Washington of Fluminense was deserving of shortlist recognition as he was a big part in the Tricolor Carioca reaching their 1st Libertadores final and was one of the co-leading goal scorers in the 2008 Brasileirao.

The fact is that the current FIFA “World” Player of the Year is not a global world encompassing award. Its a Eurocentric award, therefore the word “World” should be dropped from the name and simply known as the FIFA Player of the Year. That way, people know that a select few in FIFA’s leadership came up with a shortlist to acknowledge those players they deemed worthy of such an award.

FIFA’s Eurocentric minded selectors cornered national team captains and coaches into voting for European based players by only choosing European based players for the shortlist. The “World” in the FIFA “World” Player of the Year award is like when a U.S. professional sports team wins their league and claims to be “World Champion” that’s total bull$%^&!.

To legitimize the FIFA World Player of the Year award, winners of the player of the year for all the FIFA confederations should be automatically shortlisted. CONCACAF needs to get with the program cause the other confederations either give a P.O.Y. themselves or recognize their P.O.Y. through some media outlet. An idea would be to breakdown the shortlist in a manner similar to the break down of places each confederation receives in the World Cup tournament. It would be probably still be Euro dominated but at least there would be more of a global representation in the award’s shortlist. Now whether those nominated for the award actually win it, is a matter left to the democratic process. There just needs to be more variety on the ballot.

If FIFA continues to exclude non-European based players for its “World” Player of the Year award then the name needs to be changed to the more accurate title of FIFA Player of the Year. The problem is not the manner in which the winner is chosen or the winner themselves. Its the pool of candidates from which the award winner is chosen, it excludes many players that are worthy of nomination. Until non-European based players are included into the pool of candidates, FIFA’s award is not a “World” award and can never claim to be.

The final installment of the Award Winners series will feature the candidates for the African Player of the Year.  The winner of the 2007 award went to Sevilla’s Mali striker Frédéric Kanouté.

Kanouté was the 1st African P.O.Y. not to be born in Africa, but this year’s candidates & eventual winner were all born on the African continent. The WCB list of candidates is slightly different from shortlist that was formally announced so here are our three top candidates for African Footballer Of The Year (in no particular order):

Mohamed Aboutrika

He is the best African footballer plying his trade in Africa. Even though he wears No. 22, he has the skills of a true No. 10. Aboutrika led Egypt to its 5th African Cup of Nations title, scoring the trophy clincher in the final vs. Cameroon. He finished tied for 2nd on the tournament’s goal scoring list. Despite injury he has been instrumental in leading African superclub Al-Ahly to the 2008 CAF Champions League Final. It is the 4th time in the last 4 years that Al-Ahly has reached the final. Aboutrika could break Cameroon hearts twice in 2008 because his Al-Ahly team is on the verge of defeating Cameroon side Cotonsport Garoua in the final and thus leading Al-Ahly to a record 6th African Club title.

Samuel Eto’o

He wasn’t on the announced formal shortlist for the award and as a 3-time winner he’s already had his time but in ’08, Eto’o was great. He was the leading goal scorer in the African Cup of Nations in leading Cameroon to a surprise final appearance. Despite missing time during Barca’s season due to the Cup of Nations and injury he still managed 16 goals in 18 La Liga appearances. He didn’t have the hardware like Aboutrika but he was still a beast and finished with same trophy count as Michael Essien and as many goals as Didier Drogba.

Emmanuel Adebayor

The tall lanky forward from Togo had a breakout season for Arsenal.  Under Arsene Wenger’s flowing, sharp cutting passing system, Adebayor flourished scoring 24 goals in the Premiership finishing 2nd along with Liverpool’s Fernando Torres and behind Man U’s Cristiano Ronaldo.  Togo did not participate in the African Cup of Nations but his breakout Premiership campaign make him a legitimate candidate for African Player of the Year and a force on the European club scene and Togo national team for a good while.

The winner of the title of African Footballer of the Year is:
Mohamed Aboutrika

The Egyptian playmaker is the deserving winner of African Player of the Year because he performed great in the biggest stages at both the club and national team levels. The same argument made earlier for Joffre Guerron and his South American Player of the Year can be made for Mohamed Aboutrika. The best player on the best club team and in Aboutrika’s case, the best player on the best national team in Africa. He would make history if he wins the African P.O.Y. because since the Confederation of African Football gave out the award in 1992, no Egyptian has ever won. We should see soon, a Pharaoh once again reigning over Africa.

Part II of the Award Winners series focuses on South America and its Player Of The Year. Since 1986, Uruguayan newspaper El País has been the official selector of “Rey del Fútbol de América” (America’s King Of Football). Even though the award has been around since 1971. The 2 greatest of all time have won this award: Pele & Maradona. It is unique in that it is awarded to a South American player plying their trade in the Americas the exception was 1978 when Argentina’s Mario Kempes won while playing for Valencia. Here are the 3 best candidates for the 2008 title of “Rey del Fútbol de América”:

Joffre Guerron

The young Ecuadorean winger is the new starlet of South American football and the favorite to win the South American P.O.Y.  At 23, he was an important part of the Liga De Quito side that this year won Ecuador’s 1st ever Copa Libertadores. Guerron was named the player of the tournament as his speed and ball control made him the face of Liga’s championship side.  He has since moved on to La Liga side Getafe but his exploits with Los Albos are legendary.

Christian Benítez

You might be saying WHO? Christian Benítez is another talented youngster that Ecuador can look upon for the future. He’s 22 and along with Argentinean Vicente Vuoso formed a lethal goalscoring combination that led Santos Laguna to the 2008 Mexican Clausura title. In the ’08 Apertura tournament Benítez is tied for 2nd on the goalscoring list and has been an important part of the national team’s balanced scoring attack.

Giancarlo Maldonado

Since his arrival to Atlante in Mexico, Maldonado has become an idol as he led Atlante to the ’07 Apertura title. What he did in ’07 was irrelevant since this is an ’08 award but since that season he has been Atlante’s and Venezuela’s leading goal scorer. El Vinotinto is no longer the push over of South America and a massive reason why is the emergence of Giancarlo Maldonado.

The deserving winner of the title “Rey del Fútbol de América” is:
Joffre Guerron

This one is hands down. When you are the best player on the best team in South America then you get the trophy for the player of the year. 2008 is truly a historic year for Ecuadorean club football. Guerron leads Liga De Quito to the nation’s 1st Libertadores trophy and now he is line to be the 1st Ecuadorean to be crowned “Rey del Fútbol de América.” Too bad he won’t be there when Liga participate in their 1st FIFA World Club Cup.

We finish up the Award Winners with Part III – a look at the candidates for African Player Of The Year.

We are coming up on that time of the year when the next three months we will dress up as someone or something, eat some turkey or some bird till we get fat, and open some presents from our families that we will probably return 2 weeks later. It is also the time when the major awards in football will be awarded.

The Ballon D’Or given to the European Player Of The Year and FIFA World Player Of The Year have been “kissing cousins” since the FIFA award’s inception in 1991.  In fact, 10 of the last 17 Ballon D’Or winners have won the FIFA award including the last 3 winners.  Only 3 times since 1991 has the Ballon D’Or winner not finished in the Top 3 of the FIFA award voting. It is likely this year once again, the winner of the Ballon D’Or will also win the FIFA P.O.Y., so let’s look at the 3 best candidates. 

Cristiano Ronaldo
 
The Portuguese superstar was a virtual lock for both awards at the end of the club season. His play carried Manchester United to the Premiership and a 3rd European Cup. He scored in the Champions League final but got cute with a PK, lucky for him John Terry messed up too. 42 goals in 49 total matches is a great feat but his steam ran out at the 2008 European Championship where he was ineffective to say the least. Maybe he was tired from the club season, whatever the case his lock on both awards were broken.

Iker Casillas

The Real Madrid goalkeeper is the best at his position in the world right now. He also has a double winning La Liga with Los Merengues and then capturing the European Championship with Spain. He was brilliant in Euro 2008 keeping a clean sheet throughout the knockout stage and his PK saves versus Italy in the quarters propelled Spain to the title. In addition, who knows how many points he saved Real Madrid throughout the course of the La Liga season.

Xavi
 
Xavier Hernández Creus does not have as much hardware as the Ronaldo or Casillas this year but he is just as valuable. The man known as Xavi won the European Championship with Spain and was named the player of the tournament.  He didn’t win anything with Barca but they might be in the UEFA Cup if it weren’t for him.  He scores timely goals and is the prototypical midfielder connecting the defense to the offense.  That is why the Blaugrana will lock up the Catalan star contractually for the rest of his career.

Since we’re lumping both the FIFA P.O.Y. & Ballon D’Or together, the winner should be:
Iker Casillas

Cristiano Ronaldo is a VERY close 2nd, Iker gets the nod because he did it at both the club and national team levels. If there were no international competitions this year than Ronaldo is a runaway winner but that’s not the case. Show the netminders some love, its hard being a good keeper at Real Madrid besides no keeper has won either award.

Award Winners – Part II.  Next up the candidates for South American Player Of The Year.