2007 Glo-CAF Awards best in history - Owolabi

15.02.2008

Felix Owolabi, a member of Nigeria’s glorious team of the 1980 Nations Cup has described the recent Africa Footballer of the Year Awards ceremony sponsored by Globacom as the best in the history of the awards.

Owolabi, who also was a member of the dreaded IICC Shooting Stars Football Club of Ibadan in the 1970’s to the ‘80s made the assessment as he commended the phenomenal rise of African football players to global acclaim.

“The Glo-CAF Awards ceremony has obviously become a global event because of the profile of African stars who are honoured during the ceremonies”, submitted Owolabi, fondly called Owo-blow.

At the ceremony in Lome, we witnessed an unprecedented gathering of illustrious African football stars, past and present and that is a testimony to the importance we have attached to the ceremony”.

He commended Globacom for providing the logistics that ensured that for the first time in the history of the awards ceremony, a good number of past winners attended , adding that “ it was more remarkable because we had in attendance, Sunday Ibrahim, the first official winner of the awards in 1971”.

Owolabi said it was a happy re-union for stars like Abedi Pele, Kalusha Bwalya, Segun Odegbami, Ibrahim and myself outside the field of play. “In Lome, Globacom provided a forum for many of us to catch up with former opponents in an atmosphere devoid of the competition rivalry. We exchanged notes on what is happening in our respective countries and how we can assist CAF to further improve the fortunes of African football.

It is to me and indeed most of us, the very best awards ceremony in the history of African football”, remarked Owolabi who presently serves on the board of the Nigeria Football League.

Ten African players were honoured during the ceremonies of the 2007 Glo-CAF Awards in Lome as the Best 10 in 50 Years of organized football on the continent. They included Samuel Eto’O Fils and Roger Milla of Cameroun, Abedi Pele of Ghana, Kalusha Bwalya of Zambia, Nwankwo Kanu of Nigeria and Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast.

Others are Hossam Hassan and Mahmoud Elkhatib of Egypt, Raber Majer of Algeria and George Weah of Liberia.