Lagos is getting African football’s biggest night back, and this time the team to beat arrives from Pretoria. When the continent’s football family files into Iganmu in December, the names on everyone’s lips are likely to be South African, from the man presiding over the evening to the champions of Africa and the players behind their triumph.

Across the Limpopo, Mamelodi Sundowns’ rise is followed as closely on the betting slip as it is on the pitch, and South Africa will bring all of that attention with it to Lagos. These are the five South African names to watch.

1. Patrice Motsepe Presides Over It All

Everything starts with CAF’s president. Dr Patrice Motsepe took office in March 2021, was re-elected in March 2025, and it was his Executive Committee that met virtually on 2 October and confirmed Nigeria as host of both of CAF’s big gatherings. The Ordinary General Assembly comes first on Saturday 21 November, and as Complete Sports reported when Lagos was named host for 7 December, the awards return to the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts, the old National Theatre, for the city’s fourth time after 2008, 2013 and 2014. A five-member CAF delegation toured venues in Abuja and Lagos at the end of July, including the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre and the Eko Hotel, and Lagos governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu declared after the inspection that “Lagos is ready”.

The hosts will not be short of pride either, and Nigeria arrive with recent form of their own. At last year’s ceremony in Morocco, Chiamaka Nnadozie won Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year for a third straight time, the Super Falcons were named Women’s National Team of the Year, and Victor Osimhen finished in the top three for the men’s prize behind Achraf Hakimi, with Mohamed Salah the other finalist.

Motsepe’s ties to South African football run deep too. When he moved to CAF, his son Thlopie took over as chairman of Mamelodi Sundowns, the club that now arrives in Lagos as African champions.

2. Mamelodi Sundowns Arrive as African Champions

Sundowns won their second CAF Champions League in May, beating Morocco’s AS FAR 2-1 on aggregate, and they head to Lagos as the club to beat on the night.

South African reports say Sundowns lead the early nominations, with the club up for Club of the Year and three of its key figures in the running for individual honours. CAF had not published its full list at the time of those reports, so the final shortlists may yet change.

3. Ronwen Williams and the Penalty That Mattered

Williams made a crucial penalty save as Sundowns completed their Champions League triumph, and he is reported to be in the running for Goalkeeper of the Year. A Bafana Bafana regular as well as Sundowns’ number one, he is one of the most familiar faces in South African football, followed by fans at home on the terraces and in the betting markets alike.

That following runs deep. South African punters track the top flight and Bafana Bafana through their own local sites, and onlinegamblingsa.co.za is one of the places that scene is laid out for local fans, with dedicated soccer and Bafana Bafana sections alongside reviews of the betting sites South Africans use. Awards night in Lagos will be watched closely there for more than national pride.

4. Teboho Mokoena and the Winning Strike

If one moment carried Sundowns to the title, it was Mokoena’s long-range strike against AS FAR, the goal that proved decisive in the final. The midfielder is linked with Interclub Player of the Year, the award that recognises the best player in CAF’s club competitions, and a win in Lagos would cap the biggest season of his career. It would also be a statement on Nigerian soil, in front of a crowd that knows exactly how much the Bafana Bafana rivalry means.

5. Miguel Cardoso and a Second Continental Crown

Cardoso guided Sundowns to their second continental crown, and the Portuguese coach is among the candidates for Coach of the Year.

If Sundowns sweep the club categories, Cardoso will be the man credited with turning South Africa’s dominant domestic side into the best on the continent, and the old rivalry with Nigeria will have moved from the pitch to the awards stage. A home crowd at Iganmu will make sure every Nigerian name read out on 7 December gets a reception to remember, while fans in South Africa follow every envelope, plenty of them with a stake in the outcome on more than one front.