CAF Awards 2026: Ghana's Six Nominations Confirmed

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Ghana has secured six nominations at the CAF Awards 2026, spanning four individual honours and two national-team categories. The list extends beyond Antoine Semenyo and Caleb Yirenkyi to Black Queens captain Portia Boakye, goalkeeper Cynthia Konlan and both senior national teams. CAF has confirmed the shortlists ahead of the awards ceremony in Lagos on 7 December.

ACCRA — Ghana’s recognition across men’s and women’s football is the central story emerging from CAF’s nominations, published on 3 and 4 November. Each of the six Ghanaian entries is one of ten nominees in its respective category. A nomination is not a win or a prediction of the final vote.

CAF Awards 2026: Ghana Earns Six Nominations as Semenyo, Yirenkyi and Black Queens Contend Nukunya

Ghana’s six CAF Awards nominations

Ghanaian nominee	Category	Nominees in category
Antoine Semenyo	Men’s Player of the Year	10
Caleb Yirenkyi	Men’s Young Player of the Year	10
Portia Boakye	Women’s Player of the Year	10
Cynthia Konlan	Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year	10
Black Stars	Men’s National Team of the Year	10
Black Queens	Women’s National Team of the Year	10

Source: CAF’s official men’s and women’s nominations, 3–4 November 2026. Nukunya count: four individual nominations plus two team nominations equals six.

Semenyo: what do the performance figures show?

Manchester City forward Antoine Semenyo, 26, is among ten Men’s Player of the Year candidates. Reporting on his 2025/26 Premier League season credits him with 17 goals and four assists in 37 appearances across Bournemouth and Manchester City. That is 21 direct goal involvements, or 0.57 per league appearance. The calculation uses appearances, not minutes played, and does not measure defensive contribution or chance creation.

A separate account credits Semenyo with 15 goals and eight assists in 42 club-and-country appearances during calendar year 2026. These figures refer to different periods and competitions, so they must not be added together or used interchangeably.

His competition includes defending winner Achraf Hakimi, Sadio Mané, Brahim Diaz, Ismaila Sarr, Pape Gueye, Ismael Saibari, Amad Diallo, Yoane Wissa and Teboho Mokoena. Comparing a defender, midfielders and forwards solely by goals would be misleading. CAF has not announced a public numerical ranking of the ten nominees.

Yirenkyi: World Cup breakthrough and a young-player nomination

Caleb Yirenkyi, 20, is shortlisted for Men’s Young Player of the Year after a breakthrough season and Ghana’s 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign. CAF highlights his stoppage-time winner against Panama and subsequent move from FC Nordsjælland to Coventry City. The goal is a significant match event, not by itself a complete measure of his season.

The other nine nominees are Ibrahim Maza, Christian Kofane, Christ Inao, Yan Diomande, Hamza Abdelkarim, Ismael Kamissoko, Abdellah Ouazane, Ayoub Bouaddi and Ibrahim Mbaye. Morocco and Côte d’Ivoire each have two nominees; Ghana is among eight countries represented in this category.

Women’s football: the nominations the original story missed

Portia Boakye is shortlisted for Women’s Player of the Year alongside prominent contenders including Barbra Banda, Temwa Chawinga, Tabitha Chawinga, Thembi Kgatlana and three Cameroon players. Ghana goalkeeper Cynthia Konlan is nominated for Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year, where Cameroon’s Michaely Bihina is among the competitors after a notable continental championship campaign.

The Black Queens are also among ten candidates for Women’s National Team of the Year. Their recognition follows a Women’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign that reached the quarter-finals and subsequent progress towards the 2027 Women’s World Cup qualification pathway. The nominations should not be interpreted as a claim that Ghana won the women’s continental title.

Both Ghana national teams make the cut

Ghana’s Black Stars are nominated for Men’s National Team of the Year after reaching the Round of 32 at the 2026 World Cup, their first knockout-stage appearance since 2010. Their nine competitors are Algeria, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.

The Black Queens compete with Algeria, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa in the women’s team category.

What the nomination data can and cannot tell us

Ghana has six entries across six categories, but the number alone is not a performance ranking against other countries. A player may appear in multiple categories, national teams and individuals represent different types of achievement, and some women’s categories will be announced only after the CAF Women’s Champions League Egypt 2026 concludes.

The six currently confirmed nominations are a snapshot as of 5 November, not necessarily Ghana’s final total. Nor does a ten-person shortlist imply that every candidate has a 10% statistical probability of winning. CAF’s judging process and final vote determine the results.

What happens next?

The CAF Awards ceremony is scheduled for Monday, 7 December 2026, in Lagos, Nigeria. Additional women’s interclub, coach and club nominations are expected following the continental women’s club tournament. Supporters should watch for official shortlist updates and avoid treating unofficial social-media polls as CAF voting.

Data methodology: Six nominations are counted from the two CAF primary-source lists. Semenyo’s 0.57 goal involvements per appearance equals (17 goals + 4 assists) ÷ 37 Premier League appearances; it is not a minutes-adjusted statistic or CAF scoring metric. All nomination lists are current as of 5 November 2026.