Ademola Lookman and four others will compete for the ultimate prize in the CAF Awards later this year.
CAF has announced its five finalists for the prestigious Men’s player of the year award for 2024 as judgement day in Marrakech, Morocco, nears.
The list, headlined by Nigeria and Atalanta forward Ademola Lookman, joined by Serhou Guirassy of Borussia Dortmund and Guinea, Achraf Hakimi of Morocco and PSG Paris Saint-German, Simon Adingra of Ivory Coast and Brighton and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams of South Africa and Mamelodi Sundowns.
The announcement, made on Monday afternoon spell the end for the hopes of the likes of William-Troost Ekong, Amine Gouri, Sofiane Rahimi, Chancel Mbemba and Edmond Tapsoba, winning the award this year.
It has been an incredible journey for all nominatees, including those whose hopes have been dashed, although it saves them the stress to come, as only one of the lots will be crowned eventually.
As CAF closes in on a successor for Victor Osimhen, we take a look at the gracious road to a shot at glory for Ademola Lookman and four others, who are up for the most prestigious individual prize in African football.
Ademola Lookman and four others – The Journey
Four of the five nominees play abroad and all four are outfielders. Ademola Lookman and Simon Adingra are attackers, Serhou Guirassy is a striker and Achraf Hakimi is a fullback.
The only exception, Ronwen Williams is a goalkeeper and plays for Mamelodi Sundowns, a club in his contry South Africa, whom he signed for from SuperSport United in 2022.
Ademola Lookman (Nigeria, and Atalanta)
The story of the one-time Premier League flop is no stranger to football fans across the world these days, and how much do those who tagged him as such have regret their take.
Ademola Lookman came all the way to becoming the outright favourite for the CAF Player of the year award. In fact, only Yaya Toure, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané have been more deserved winner than the former Charlton Academy alumnus should inevitably claim the prize next month.
Who would have thought he’ll be in this position at the start of last season ? Or we could go back to a few years, when he was hell-bent on representing England’s Three Lions, while the Nigerian Football Federation pursued him.
Switching international allegiances to Nigeria and the move to Atalanta have definitely helped. However, for this prize, there was still much more to do because the thought of a potential competition against the likes of Mohamed Salah alone would have churned the stomach.
But here we are, some 16 months following the start to his second season in Italy, records have been broken, histories have been made, feats have been achieved and hero is on the brink of turning legend.
Lookman started the season well and welcomed his first international goal before the turn of the year. He came to live in the African Cup of nations, where he started as a part of the squad but came out as an inevitable starter.
Ademola scored important goals, most especially in the knockouts as Nigeria reached the final, where the Super Eagles lost to host Ivory Coast.
Three goals and two assists, only two players have more than his four goal contributions in the tournament and no Nigerian player has up to that.
At the end of the club season, Lookman helped Atalanta win their first-ever European title by netting a hat-trick in the UEFA Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen, ending Xabi Alonso’s side unbeaten run that had lasted all season.
When he opened the scoring in Dublin, he became the third Nigerian player to score in the final of a major UEFA competition, after Alex Iwobi (2019 Europa League) and Joe Aribo (2022 Europa League).
Then it got better when he got his second, which saw him became the first-ever African to score a brace in the final of a major European competition.
And when he completed his hat-trick 15 minutes from time, he became the sixth player ever to score a hat-trick in a major European final and the first since Jupp Heynckes’ for Borussia Mönchengladbach in the 1975 UEFA Cup.
Lookman was included in the UEFA Europa League team of the season, adding that to the team of the tournament appearance in the AFCON 2023 at the turn of the year.
He was the only African in the 30 man list for the 2024 Ballon d’or, finishing 14th and becoming the third highest ranked Nigerian in history, behind teammate Victor Osimhen and legendary Kanu Nwankwo, who ranked eighth and 11th respectively, in 2023 and 1996.
The new season has seen him start to grow in all areas of his game. At 27, Lookman is in the best form he can be in his prime. But he always appears to better, each time he gets on the pitch of play.
He has achieved eight goals and five assists in 14 Atalanta games this season, won the UEFA Champions League Player of the match and Atalanta player of the month for September, Lookman continues to standout ahead of imminent coronation.
With 33 goals and 17 assists since the start of last season, the only African attacker, not a striker, in an elite league that can compete with those numbers is Mohamed Salah, who is definitely out of the debate here.
Lookman also adds the flairs and trickeries demanded from a franchise player and having played himself to the stagw, the crown fits no one better than the Nigerian international, born and raised in Greater London.
Ademola Lookman and four others battle for CAF Award
Serhou Guirassy (Guinea, Stuttgart, and Borussia Dortmund)
Serhou Guirassy took Stuttgart to places they’ve never ever been last season, a season he will not forget so soon, even so as it earned him a move to one of the two biggest clubs in Germany.
The 28-year-old was smashing records at the start of last season. With 14 goals after eight games into the start of last Bundesliga season, he set a new record for most goals at that stage of the season in the competition’s history, while only Cristiano Ronaldo, for Real Madrid in La Liga at the start of 2014-15 season, with 15 goals, has scored more after eight games in the 21st century in top five leagues.
He continued in that form and added a couple more, which included becoming of the four players in German Bundesliga history, to reach 15+ goals after 11 games into a season. Others are Harry Kane, Robert Lewandowski and Gerd Müller.
At the end of the season, although beaten to the top scorer award by Harry Kane, who scored eight more goals than the Guinean’s 28. Guirassy finished last season with 30 goals and three appearances in 30 appearances across all competitions.
12 of his league goals were also openers, and saw him equal the record for most opening goals in a single Bundesliga season.
Guirassy has helped Stuttgart finish second in the league, their highest top-flight finish in history, while he also set a new club record for most Bundesliga goals by a Stuttgart player in a single season.
His move to Dortmund in the summer has been impressive and has so far produced nine goals and three assists across all competitions while he has been unplayable for Guinea in the AFCON qualifiers.
With six goals in three games, he is the top scorer and his goals have helped the team turned things around, leaving them needing to only avoid defeat in their final game against Tanzania to reach Morocco 2025.
With 46 goals and six assists since the start of last season, Serhou Guirassy’s statistics and impact has earned him a place in the final list, and the former Laval Academy alumnus will fancy his chance come December.
Achraf Hakimi (Morocco, and PSG Paris Saint-German)
Achraf Hakimi is without a doubt one of the world class players in the continent. His performances since his days with Borussia Dortmund have been praiseworthy, and keeping up the standard almost seven years on is a monstrous feat.
The 26-year-old was also here last time following a remarkable FIFA World Cup outing with the Atlas Lions, where they made history for Africa by reaching the semi finals in Qatar.
Despite Morocco’s abysmal outing in the AFCON in Ivory Coast at the turn of the year, Hakimi was outstanding in the group stage, scoring one and assisting one as Morocco earned seven of nine group points before their shocking exit in the quarter-finals.
His 2024 with the national team was further healed by their AFCON 2025 qualifiers campaign, where they went flawless, and as the best team overall.
Morocco is currently on a run of eight winning streak, the best of any FIFA recognized national team in the world and the former Real Madrid Academy alumnus has been an integral part, leading with the armband, from the back and with charisma.
His contributions have been massive. He appeared in five of the six games, excused for the final one, scored one and assisted as many while making vital contributions defensively for the three clean sheets.
No question at all about club level. Plays for Paris Saint-Germain, Hakimi is a regular and won all three domestic titles last season, while another date in the Super Cup final against AS Monaco is still to come in January.
Since the start of last season, he has been directly involved in 23 goals across all competitions for club and country, which is absolutely incredible for a defender.
No doubts about the talent of Achraf Hakimi and he deserves his place in the nomination, who has been a standout right-back, competing with the best in the world, and his achievement is a source of pride for Africa.
Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast, and Brighton)
Ivory Coast’s AFCON conquest on home soil is the height of the 22-year-old’s performance. Nigerians will not forget so soon, who his two assists in the Alessane Outtarra stadium crashed their party in the tournament’s final.
Simon Adingra, who made a total of five appearances in the tournament did not start a game until the semi final, but he did came off the bench to score an dramatic late equalizer and force extra time against Mali in the quarter-finals.
In the final, he produced one of the best individual performances of AFCON 2023. With The Elephants trailing 1-0 at the interval, Adingra stepped up and assisted goals scored by both Franck Kessie and Sebastien Haller to help Ivory to her third continental title.
21 at the time, the Right to Dream Academy alumnus deservedly picked up the Young Player of the tournament award, as well as the final MVP.
There wasn’t much to celebrate at club level, although he did scored six goals and assisted one in 31 league appearances last season, while his overall impressive play triggered links with top clubs back in the summer.
Adingra started the 2024-25 season very bright for Brighton. He registered goal involvements in his first three games, including an extra time assist to win it against Manchester United, where he only came on in the final minute.
He has however struggled with injuries of late but had definitely done enough to deserve his plac in the final list for the CAF Men’s Player of the year award this time.
Ronwen Williams (South Africa, and Mamelodi Sundowns)
2024 has been a remarkable year for the 32-year-old goalkeeper. From an outstanding AFCON outing to becoming the first-ever South Africa nominated for a Ballon d’or award, everything in between were as well glorious.
It started going well following his move to Sundowns and in the maiden edition of the African Football League, he played a vital role to see his side to the title, winning the goalkeeper of the tournament in the process.
A few months later and there he was, dazzling between the sticks for Bafana Bafana as they won bronze medal in the African Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast — their best achievement in the tournament since 2000, also third place.
Williams won the goalkeeper of the tournament following his heroics, highlighted by five clean sheets in seven games, seven penalties saved in shoot-outs and 20 saves during play, with an 86.96% save percentage.
At the end of the season in South Africa, he helped Sundowns to back-to-back league titles, and was named the league’s Player of the season, in recognition of his contributions, which included 13 clean sheets, the most in the division.
Ronwen Williams absolutely deserves his nomination and South Africa have also played a huge part in his recognition, although he has become a national treasure with his Ballon d’or nomination for the Yacine Trophy.
He may be a goalkeeper but Williams has earned his nomination, and there’s plenty to console him even if he failed to win this category, as no one is beating him to the goalkeeper prize.
Maybe he’ll also claim the interclub player of the year. Who knows.
When Will the Winner Be announced?
The 2024 CAF Awards night will be held in Marrakech, Morocco on the 16th of December, later this year.
