CAF maintains the 5 nominees for men’s African Player of the Year 2024

* Goalkeeper Ronwen Williams has also been nominated in two other categories, CAF Goalkeeper of the Year and CAF Interclub Player of the Year

* He has better strengths following his excellent exploits for Bafana Bafana at AfCON Côte d’Ivoire 2023

* Whose spectacular penalty saves will live long in the memory as he captained South Africa to the bronze medal

Maravi Express

With so little to choose in the voting between the remaining nominees in the race for the coveted men’s Player of the Year CAF Awards 2024, organisers have kept intact the full list of five names ahead of the ceremony in Marrakech, Morocco tomorrow.

They are Mamelodi Sundowns and South Africa’s goalkeeper Ronwen Williams from the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA); Nigeria & Atalanta’s exciting winger Ademola Lookman; Côte d’Ivoire & Brighton & Hove Albion winger, Simon Adingr; Borussia Dortmund’s Guinea international striker Serhou Guirassy and Morocco & Paris Saint-Germain’s Achraf Hakimi.

It adds to the suspense on the evening in what has been one of the most closely fought contests in the history of the Award, with five outstanding candidates hoping to write their names into the rich history of football on the continent.

Goalkeeper Ronwen Williams has also been nominated in two other categories — CAF Goalkeeper of the Year and CAF Interclub Player of the Year and has better strengths following his excellent exploits for Bafana Bafana at Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) Côte d’Ivoire 2023, whose spectacular penalty saves will live long in the memory as he captained South Africa to the bronze medal.

Along the way, Bafana Bafana beat more fancied Morocco in the round of 16, before Williams’ shoot-out heroics saw the side past Cape Verde and DR Congo and he also helped Bafana Bafana qualify for AfCON Morocco 2025 and was a nominee for FIFA’s best goalkeeper in 2024.

The 32-year-old helped his club Mamelodi Sundowns set a joint record low of 11 goals conceded in 30 games in the South African Premiership as The Brazilians romped to a record-extending seventh domestic league title in succession.

Nigerian, Ademola Lookman on Italian side, Atalanta, has been in the form of his life in 2024, helping turn his Italian Serie A side into title contenders and taking them to a UEFA Europa League trophy win, a first major piece of silverware for the club in 61 years.

The 27-year-old scored a hat-trick in the decider as Atalanta became the only team in the 2023-24 campaign to inflict a defeat on German Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen as the forward provided one of the great final displays in European football history.

Lookman also helped Nigeria to the final of the AfCON Côte d’Ivoire 2023, where they lost to the hosts. His displays, and three goals, did not go unnoticed as he was named in the tournament’s First XI.   

Winger Simon Adingra (Brighton & Hove Albion, England) was a key figure for Côte d’Ivoire in their rollercoaster run to the AfCON 2023 on home soil in February.

He scored a 90th minute equaliser in an extra-time victory against Mali in the quarter-finals and provided two assists in the final against Nigeria as the Elephants put behind them a difficult start to the campaign to lift the trophy.

He was named Best Young Player at the tournament and the 22-year-old has also been a key performer for Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League this calendar year, part of an exciting and talented young squad of players.

Guinea’s Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund, Germany) scored a remarkable 30 goals in as many games for the German Bundesliga side Stuttgart in the 2023-24 season and has carried on that form following a move to Borussia Dortmund for the new campaign.

His tally of 28 Bundesliga goals in the season beat Stuttgart’s previous record of 25, set by Mario Gómez in the 2008-09. Only Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane managed more goals than Guirassy in the campaign.

The 28-year-old scored 23 goals for club and country in the period under review (January-October 2024), including a hat-trick for Guinea against Ethiopia in the AfCON Morocco 2025 qualifiers, and two more a week later against the same opponents.

Achraf Hakimi (Morocco & Paris Saint-Germain, France) has long been one of the most consistent right-backs in European football and had an excellent year for PSG, who he helped win a third French Ligue 1 title in a row last season.

PSG did the ‘Double’ with victory in the Coupe de France final over Lyon in May, while Hakimi also helped Morocco to a bronze medal at the Paris Olympic Games.

With his quality and leadership, he remains a key figure for the Morocco national team and played in 14 internationals in 2024, scoring at the AfCON Côte d’Ivoire 2023 against the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Past winners of the African Footballer of the Year award, which was first introduced more than a half century ago, come from CAF’s 17 different Member Associations.

Cameroon are way ahead on the list of countries with the most awards, enjoying a total of 11 from Roger Milla’s first in 1976 to 2010 when Samuel Eto’o won the last of his record-breaking number of four triumphs (2003, 2004, 2005 and 2010).

Next with 6 titles overall are Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria, with the Elephants’s Yama Touré being led by 4 accolades in four consecutive times (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014) while Nigeria dominated through Rashidi Yekini (1993); Emmanuel Amunike (1994); Nwankwo Kanu (1996 & 1999) and Victor Ikpeba (1997).

Ghana has won 5 with three in a row for Abedi Pele, whose son Dede Ayew was third in 2015 while Morocco and Senegal tie on 4 title; Algeria, Egypt and Liberia on 3 each; Mali 2 and one each by from Congo, Gabon, Guinea, Togo, Tunisia, Zaire (now DR Congo) and Zambia — through Kalusha Bwalya.

Winning twice consecutively are Senegal’s El Hadji Diouf (2001, 2002) and Egypt’s  Mohamed Salah (2017, 2018) and while there was a break of 2020 and 2021 due to CoVID-19 pandemic, Senegal’s Sadio Mané won it in 2019 and 2022.

The African Footballer of the Year was first established by France Football magazine 54 years ago and it was taken over by CAF in 1992, which was claimed by Abedi Pele.

1995 Ballon d’Or winner, Liberian George Weah claimed it in 1995; Morocco’s Mustapha Hadji in 1998; Cameroon’s  Patrick Mboma in 2000; Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (2015) and Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez (2016).

Former Mali international Salif Keïta was the very first recipient in 1970, when it was managed by France Football Magazine, which he earned while he was playing for Saint-Étienne in France.—Content by CAFonline; edited by Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express