Togolese forward Emmanuel Adebayor claims African Football is led by very corrupt people and will reject any invitation to attend a CAF event.

Adebayor’s comments come a week after the Togolese star controversially attacked his compatriots who’d requested him to contribute towards eradicating the coronavirus pandemic in his home country.

The 36-year-old claims African football is led by corrupt people.

“I distanced myself from African football because of corruption and way of doing things that side. I only honour my country Togo. And if they invited me to any event that has anything to do with CAF I won’t show up because of the leaders of the organisation,” he said.

Adebayor also feels that Liverpool’s Sadio Mane did not deserve to win the Africa Player of the year award because his is not African based. He suggests the award should be given to players based at African Clubs.

“How is Sadio Mane winning CAF Best Player Of The Year when he’s not African based, Lionel Messi has never won any continental individual trophy in his continent. In my whole footballing years, I’ve seen European players who were amazing and they played in America they never made the nominees. But in Africa, an African who is based in Europe and then he wins African awards. How is that?”

“In Brazil, Neymar can’t win Brazilian player of the season but can win Brazilian player of the year, so when they include all the countries in that continent and make Neymar the best player what about the players who are based in that continent?

“CAF stands for Confederation of African Football. How Salah and Sadio win it is way out of my worst imagination. That award belongs to African (based) players.”

Adebayor, who is now based in Paraguay, is known for his outspoken nature. He was voted African Footballer of the Year in 2008 while playing at Arsenal.

Kelvin Trudeau Musako

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