By Akeem Busari
Ahmed Yusuf Fresh, Nigeria’s renowned and long-standing football administrator has been nominniated in the inaugural Football Africa Awards for the categories of African Football Executive of the Year and African Football Newsmaker of the Year Awards respectively.
The Awards, which is part of the first edition of the Football Africa Forum, will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa on 30 November - 1 December 2017 and a large delegation of Nigerian football luminaries are expected to attend the gathering.
Mr. Fresh's contribution towards the development of football in Nigeria during his lifetime and especially as a serving executive member of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) for six years, has not gone unnoticed, hence his nomination in these two prestigious categories. Fresh also served as the head of CAF's Technical Study Group in 2015 during the 19th African Youth Championship finals, which was held in Senegal.
Mr. Gerrit Davids, Founder and Director of the Football African Forum and Awards made the announcement of Mr. Fresh's nominations earlier this week in Johannesburg.
Davids paid tribute to Mr. Fresh and stated, "that it came as no surprise that his nomination was the first to be confirmed by the organisers as it speaks volumes for the contribution he has made to football as a most humble servant and of which he is highly deserving of this honour".
Davids says that Mr. Fresh's nomination is not only leading the many that will come out of Nigeria for the Awards, but is also the first across the continent to be listed as a Nominee for the Chairman's Awards in these categories.
Commenting on Mr. Fresh's nomination, the National Association of Nigeria Professional Footballers, (NANPF), President, Dahiru Sadi (MFR), said that nomination is indeed a fitting tribute to Mr. Fresh's more than 25 years of unselfish service to Nigerian Football and that the players union is fully endorsing his nomination.
The Awards Ceremony will be held on 1 December 2017 in Johannesburg and it will also screen live the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals Draw during the Gala-Dinner.
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