The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has named Nigeria International striker Ademola Lookman, in its final shortlist of five for the prestigious 2024 African Footballer of the Year award.
Also listed for the award is South Africa’s goalkeeper Ronwen Williams; Cote d’Ivoire’s striker Simon Adingra as well as Guinea’s striker, Serhou Guirassy and Morocco’s defender Achraf Hakimi who missed out on the top prize to Victor Osimhen for the 2023 African Footballer of the Year.
The final top five in all the men’s categories were revealed by the communications department of the continental soccer ruling body on Monday.
It stated inter alia: “The glittering ceremony designed to celebrate African football excellence recognizes exceptional performances in both club and national competitions, culminating in the prestigious titles of CAF African Player of the Year in both the men’s and women’s categories.
“A total of seven (7) categories have been confirmed by CAF in the Men’s Category of the awards, shortlisting the five top performing players, coaches and teams in each of the categories.
“The CAF Awards 2024 cover the period between January 2024 and October 2024.”
While Super Eagles captain William Troost-Ekong missed on the final list of five for the Footballer of the Year prize, goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali made the shortlist of five in in the Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year Category where he will battle it out with Ronwen Williams, Cameroon’s Andre Onana, Ivorian Yahia Fofana and Egypt’s Mostafa Shobeir.
Lookman is being regarded as the favourite to succeed his compatriot, Osimhen, as the next continental soccer king for his superlative performances in the period under review.
Last month, the 27-year-old Atalanta forward was voted the 14th best player in the 2024 Ballon d’Or in Paris and just last week, he was also listed in a short list of 30 for the 2024 Globe Soccer Awards men’s best player prize to be held in Dubai on December 29.
This time, aside from Lookman and Nwabali, the Super Eagles are also in contention for the National Team of the Year award.
