Cote d’Ivoire striker and captain Didier Drogba was crown the 2009 Africa Footballer of the Year at a State Banquet in Accra Ghana on Thursday night.

At this Globacom sponsored Confederation of African Football (CAF) the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Tressor Mputu Mabi was named Africa Inter-Club Player of the Year. He was a key striker with the Lubumbashi-based TP Mazembe.

The Algeria “Desert Fox” were named national Team of the Year. Orange Africa Super Cup and Orange Africa Champions league title holders TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo are the Club of the Year.

Ghana secured two well deserved awards. The youthful Dominic Adiyah winner of the Golden Boot award at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Egypt was named Africa Young Player of the Year. While Sellas Tetteh, coach the Ghana Black Satellites that carried the day both at the Africa Youth Championships in Kigali Rwanda and the FIFA Under -20 World Cup in Cairo Egypt scooped the Africa Coach of the Year awards.

Sudan had its share of the limelight when Al Hilal was presented with The Fair Play Award. South African fans will have something to cheer about they got the Africa the Best Supporters Club Award.

The recipients of the Africa Legends award where Nigerian Stepn Keshi, Jules Bocande of Senegal and Angola’s Osvaldo Saturnino de Oliviera. Ghanaian President John Atta Mills was presented with the CAF Platinum Award.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Awards was the lack of accolades for women’s football. How will we develop women’s football when there is no recognition for what they do in the game?

Tunisia has taken over from South Africa as the continent’s representative on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Executive Committee.

WADA was established in 1999 as an international independent agency constituted and funded equally by the sports movement and governments of the world. Its key activities include scientific research, education, and development of anti-doping capacities.

Central to is work isthe monitoring of the World Anti Doping Code, the document that harmonises anti-doping policies in all sports and all countries. ADA was established in 1999 as a

South Africa and Tunisia are the only African countries with WADA accredited laboratories for carrying out anti doping test. The laboratories are in Bloemfontein in South Africa and the Tunisia capital Tunis.

The handover of the rotational representation was held in the Tunisian capital Tunis. South African Sports and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile meet with Tunisian Youth, Sports and Education Minsiter Samir Laabidi in Tunis. This concluded a process following the deliberation of the Africa Union Sports Minister’s meeting held in Abuja Nigeria from 15-16 October last year.

Namibia edged their neighbours Angola 2-1 the opening leg of their Africa Women’s Nations Championships qualifier in Windhoek on Sunday.  

In other matches, the Democratic Republic of Congo registered a 2-0 away victory against Botswana in Gaborone. Elsewhere Cote d’Ivoire piped Gabon 2-1, Senegal and Morocco played to a scoreless draw in Dakar, as Tanzania beat their Ethiopian hosts 3-1 in Addis Ababa, as Guinea outscored Sierra Leone 3-2 in Conakry.

The seven teams that qualify will join hosts South Africa or the tournament in October. Equatorial Guinea are the defending champions.

 The 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa came from behind to hold the visiting Namibian Brave Warriors to a 1-all draw in eThekwini on Wednesday.

At other World Cup build up matches Nigeria beat the travelling Democratic Republic of Congo 5-2 in Abuja, Bosnia-Herzegovina edged Ghana 2-1 in Sarajevo, while in London South Korean got the better of Cote d’Ivoire 2-0 and England beat Africa champions Egypt 3-1, while Serbia beat Algeria 3-0 in Algiers.

Elsewhere Cameroon and world champions Italy drew 0-0 in Monte Carlo Monaco, Senegal beat their Greek hosts 2-0 in Volos, Angola and Latvia drew 1-all in Luanda , Botswana edged Mozambique 1-0 in Maputo, as Zimbabwe piped Malawi 2-1 in Harare. Libya edged Mali in Tripoli, while Uganda piped their Tanzania hosts 3-2 in Mwanza.

Africa champions Egypt is the continent’s highest ranking men’s team on the latest FIFA Rankings released in Zurich Switzerland on Wednesday.

Egypt are placed 17 and are followed by Cameroon (20) Nigeria (21) and Cote d’Ivoire (22). The rest of the top ten African countries are Ghana are 28^th, Algeria 32^nd, Gabon 43nd, Burkina Faso 51^st, Mali 54^th and Tunisia 55^th.