Ademola Lookman and Stanley Nwabali made the top five nominees for the 2024 CAF Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year categories, respectively.
Despite being the AFCON 2023 MVP, Nigerian defender William Troost-Ekong was left out of the final shortlist. Ademola Lookman is joined by Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast), Serhou Guirassy (Guinea), Achraf Hakimi (Morocco), and Ronwen Williams (South Africa) in the Player of the Year category.
The CAF Awards 2024 ceremony is scheduled to take place on December 16 in Marrakech, Morocco. The final shortlist was derived three weeks after the release of the initial long list of nominees.
Stanley Nwabali, who impressed during the 2023 AFCON, will compete against Ronwen Williams (South Africa), Andre Onana (Cameroon), Yahia Fofana (Ivory Coast), and Mostafa Shobeir (Egypt) for the CAF Goalkeeper of the Year award.
Former Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro was excluded, with the final nominees including Emerse Fae (Ivory Coast), Pedro Goncalves (Angola), Sebastien Desabre (DR Congo), Marcel Koller (Al Ahly), and Hugo Broos (South Africa). Nigeria remains a contender for the CAF National Team of the Year award, competing with Ivory Coast, DR Congo, South Africa, and Sudan.
The final shortlists come ahead of the CAF Awards 2024, set to be held on December 16 in Marrakech, Morocco. Despite some exclusions, Nigeria is represented in multiple categories, including player, goalkeeper, and national team awards.
CAF has confirmed seven categories in the men’s category, including Player of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year, Interclub Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year, Club of the Year, National Team of the Year, and Coach of the Year.
The 2024 CAF Awards consider performances between January 2024 and October 2024.
Ademola Lookman is a strong contender for Player of the Year, having scored three goals at the 2023 AFCON and delivering a hat-trick in the UEFA Europa League final for Atalanta.
Lookman tallied 17 goals and 10 assists in all competitions for Atalanta during the 2023/24 season and has already contributed 8 goals and 5 assists in 14 games this season. Based on his consistent performances for both club and country, Lookman is widely regarded as the favourite to win the CAF Men’s Player of the Year Award.
Peoplesmind
