CAF told me I was the winner - Mikel Obi opens up on 2013 African Player of the Year fiasco

Former Super Eagles captain, Mikel John Obi, has stated emphatically that he was robbed of the 2013 African Footballer of the Year Award in 2013.

Obi lost the award to Machester City and Ivory Coast legend Yaya Toure while Ivory Coast and Chelsea Legend Didier Drogba came third.

The Nigerian believes it was his award to lose because he had won the African Cup of Nations, the UEFA Europa League, as well as the UEFA Champions League, which was won a year prior.

Speaking on a podcast, he disclosed that CAF assured him of winning the accolade but things played out differently during the ceremony.

"I should have won. It was my trophy to be won. I won the Africa Cup of Nations, I won the Champions League the year before that and I won the Europa League that year, 2013. And Yaya won what? He didn't win anything. Coming to the ceremony I thought I had won. The information was I was going to win it. My agent said you've won it and I was told by CAF that I was winning it.

He alleged that Yaya Toure won the award because he and the then-CAF president are from francophone countries and they wanted him to make history by becoming the first player to win it three times in a row.

"But the crazy thing was that It was the first time a player would do a hattick of winning, so they had to give to Yaya. Because he was from Ivory Coast and the CAF president then was Issah Hayatou and I think he was from Ivory Coast(correction: Cameroon). So first time, a player winning a hat trick. I thought I was winning it because I had an amazing year and the year before. We won almost everything and I was playing most of the game and I was a starter...I think I got robbed, that's what I think. Definitely, I got robbed."

Yaya Toure amassed 373 votes, between Mikel Obi who had 265, and Didier Drogba Turkey Galatasaray who had 236 votes.

Nigeria and Arsenal legend Nwankwo Kanu was the last Nigerian to win the award in 1999.

Watch Mikel Obi's interview below

"I should have won the African Player of The Year ahead of Yaya Toure... I was told by CAF that I was winning it. I definitely got robbed"

- Mikel Obi pic.twitter.com/JjBz7t9qCz

— ???? @???????????????????????????????????????????????????? (@OneJoblessBoy) November 13, 2023