The striker pulled a total 62.2% of the votes from the poll to beat (Midfielder) Afeez Noshiru, (Defender) Ayodeji Bamidele and (Striker) Samad Kadiri to emerge winner of award.

Chairman of Kwara United Kumbi Titiloye, ABS Ilorin FC Director Of football and Secretary NPFL club owners association Chief Alloy Chukwuemeka, Ace Sports Broadcaster (The Dean Of Sports) Bayour Issah alongside other football stakeholders in the state were all present during the award presentation held at the Kwara United secretariat inside the Kwara State Complex Stadium Ilorin on Monday 8th August 2022.

Alao Dabani becomes the third winner of SportsFlames Award after Onuwa Chukwuka who won the first edition and Adeyinka Najeem who won the second edition both at MFMFC while Alao Danbani becomes the first to win it with Kwara United.

Reacting after receiving the award, Alao Danbani stated that it was the first award in his career that it is an award he will forever cherish however thanking the Organisers for giving him something he would never forget in the future.

” This is the first award I would be receiving in my career, I am so happy because it is something to remember for the future, I want to as well thank the organisers for making this happen”, he said.

Also reacting was Olatoye Olawale, managing partner of SportsFlames Communications and General Manager SGFC Athletics Sports Club who rolled out the concept for the award.

” It started in 2017 this was an idea we sat down to deliberate upon and we felt it would be nice that we reward players for their exceptional performance in the past”, He said.

” We started with MFM Football Club in 2017 and we had four nominees for the award with Chukwuka Onuwa emerging the winner of the first edition, we were supposed to have it the following season but due to the World Cup Russia 2018 the league was suspended we could not hold it and the following season again we had the coronavirus outbreak so we still could not hold it. But we came back stronger last season when Adeyinka Najeem won it and here again we are having it in Kwara United so we can say officially that we’ve done three editions.

We have a vision attached with a mission to always reach a destination so if we do anything we are not always surprised as much it may be we are always excited to see the players happy when you reward them for their individual brilliance”, he concluded.

Alao Danbani scored Nine goals in past season and helped Kwara United finish 4th on the NPFL log which has qualified them for a continental football next season.

The defender has been an important member of the Kwara United team with 30 appearances so far in the 2021/22 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season.

According to Sports Flames, Bamidele will compete for the award alongside Afeez Nosir, Samad Kadiri and Alao Danbani.

A portal where Sports Journalists and fans can vote for Bamidele has been opened on the website https://bit.ly/sportflameskupoty with voting already ongoing, the voting will be closed on the 3rd July 2022.

The winner will be announced on Match Day 37 and the presentation of the award will be on Kwara United’s last home game of the season against MFM FC, on 7th July 2022 at the Kwara State Stadium Complex.

The 23-year-old Bamidele lists HNK Rijeka, NK Varazdin and Niger Tornadoes as his former clubs.

Organisers of the maiden Sportflames/Kwara United player of the year 2022 has rolled out plans and modalities for the awards.

The award Which was previously held in Lagos since it began in 2016 will be coming to Kwara State for the first time and four Kwara United stars including Ayodeji Bamidele, Alao Danbani, Afeez Noshiru and Samad Kadiri has been nominated challenge for the individual crown.

Chief Organizers of the award, Olatoye Olawale, Online Editor of SportFlames, and Football Administrator is excited to bring the award down to Kwara State as he believed it’s an avenue to further encourage Premier League players to do more and be consistent with their performance.

According to Olatoye,” I’m excited that this year’s edition of the award would be taking place in Kwara State, our previous edition has been in Lagos, since moving down to Ilorin, it’s a great opportunity for us to put smiles on the faces of Kwara United players and the fans, it’s also one of many ways in which we can help motivate and encouraging the players to keep giving 100% to their game”,

“Also this project is our own Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to rewarding player’s individual brilliance and excellence after having distinguished himself on and off the pitch”, He said.

A voting portal where Sports Journalists and fans can vote for the nominee of their choice has been opened on the website https://bit.ly/sportflameskupoty with voting already ongoing, the voting will be closed on the 3rd July 2022.

The winner will be announced on Match Day 37 and the presentation of the award will be on Kwara United’s’s last home game of the season against MFM FC, on 7th July 2022 at the Kwara State Stadium Complex Ilorin.