Didier Drogba Not a Happy Chappy After African Player of the Year Snub

February 5th, 2008 | by: Daryl |

Drogba not happy Remember how Fredi Kanoute won the African Player of the Year award for 2007? Well, turns out he didn’t. Not really. Kanoute has the award – it’s probably on the Mali and Seville striker’s mantelpiece right now – but seems he won it by default, as he was the only player able to attend the award ceremony in Lome, Togo last Friday.

Didier Drogba claims that the Confederation of African Football offered him the honour and then withdrew it when he was unable to attend. Drogba told The Telegraph:

“In the end I declined to go to the ceremony. I did that for my team-mates and because within the group we had been through an unfortunate death. I was going to send my wife to the awards in case there was a prize to receive, when I was informed by somebody from CAF that she would not be welcomed, and that the rules could change if I wasn’t there and the award be given to the person who had finished second. That shocked me.”

He has also decided to withdraw from any further awards. “From now on I’ve decided to withdraw from all voting for CAF awards,” said Double D. “It has lost a lot of value in my opinion.”

The big horrible irony is the reason Drogba couldn’t attend: He was involved in a little Confederation of African Football tournament called the Africa Cup of Nations. How crazy are CAF to schedule the award ceremony in the middle of their most prestigious event? Very crazy, that’s how much. It devalues the award, insults Drogba and demeans Fredi Kanoute’s achievement. How can Kanoute enjoy a trophy that he only has because Drogba couldn’t be there to pick it up?

CAF should give the African Player of the Year award for 2007 to the African Player of the Year for 2007. If it’s going to be given to the only player who can show up that night then the award should be renamed African Player of the Year Who Wasn’t Busy This Friday, 2007.

Tags: African Cup of Nations, African Player of the Year, Chelsea, Cote d Ivoire, Didier Drogba, Fredi Kanoute, Ivory Coast, Mali, Sevilla

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Comments

By Brad | February 5th, 2008 at 2:59 pm

Interesting story. The timing of the award ceremony is horrible and doesn’t make any sense and it just shows again how unorganized the CAF can be, just like the individual country FA’s. If it’s in fact true that Drogba was stripped of the reward because he couldn’t attend the ceremony that is shameful and definitely a black mark. That being said, let’s not forget that Kanoute is still a deserving winner. Drogba maybe more deserving, but not by much.