BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Last December in Marrakech, Nigeria won the two topmost football awards at the 2023 CAF Awards.

While Victor Osimhen was named the African Footballer of the Year, compatriot, Asisat Oshoala won the women’s version, making it a double for Nigeria.

It was not a strange occurrence. Mercy Akide, another Nigerian, won the maiden CAF Women’s Player of the Year award in 1999.

Akide’s achievement was historic, as she and Nwankwo Kanu became the first pair from the same country to win the top men’s and women’s honours.

For the second time, it happened in 2023. Will it be an encore this year with Ademola Lookman and Chiamaka Nnadozie hoping for another clean sweep?

Nnadozie has a mountain to climb as she hopes to be the first goalkeeper to win the topmost laurel of the CAF Awards.

Contesting with her are Zambia’s Barbra Banda and Morocco forward Sanaâ Mssoudy.

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BY ADEMOLA OLAJIRE

All things being equal, Nigeria’s Ademola Lookman should be crowned the African Player of the Year at Monday evening’s 2024 CAF Awards at the Palais des Congrés in the Moroccan city of Marrakech.

His three goals and two assists were pivotal to Nigeria reaching their eighth Africa Cup of Nations Final in Cote d’Ivoire in February, and his hat-trick in a 3-0 win handed Italian side, Atalanta FC the UEFA Europa Cup at the expense of hitherto-rampaging German side, Bayer Leverkusen in May.

This season, he has notched 11 goals and five assists in 18 appearances in all competitions for Atalanta (including a goal against record winners Real Madrid FC in the UEFA Champions League), and scored two goals as Nigeria qualified for the 35^th Africa Cup of Nations finals, with two other goals controversially chalked off.

None of the four other final nominees comes close. Ivorian Simon Adingra, whose remarkable second-half performance saw the Elephants overcome Nigeria in the AFCON Final in Abidjan on 11 February, cannot point to such a glittering record with English Premier League club, Brighton.

Incidentally, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire appear to always run neck-and-neck in continental titles.

Both countries have three AFCON titles each, and have scooped the Men’s Player of the Year title six times since the awards were taken over by CAF in 1992.

Cameroon lead with 11 titles (including Samuel Eto’O’s quadruple) dating back to 1970 when France Football first organized the awards, while Ghana have five (including Abedi Pele’s treble).

Victory for Nigeria on Monday evening will see the country become stand-alone number two, with previous winners being Rashidi Yekini (1993), Emmanuel Amuneke (1994), Nwankwo Kanu (1996 and 1999), Victor Ikpeba (1997) and Victor Osimhen (2023). It will also mean Lookman taking over from fellow Nigeria striker Osimhen. Cote d’Ivoire’s six have been won by Yaya Toure (quadruple) and Didier Drogba (double).

Guinea’s Serhou Guirassy, who notched a number of magnificent goals in the 2025 AFCON qualifying campaign, failed to steer Guinea to the AFCON finals, and has not pulled up too many trees with Borussia Dortmund in Germany this season.

South African goalkeeper Ronwen Williams has better chances in the goalkeeper of the year category, which he contests with Cameroon’s Andre Onana and Ivorian Yahia Fofana. Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi can hardly stake a claim.

In the women’s category, Nigeria’s Chiamaka Nnadozie is a worthy contender for the Player of the Year (won for the sixth time last year by compatriot Asisat Oshoala), and the gong will cap a remarkable year for the soft-spoken safe hands who helped Nigeria re-appear at the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament after 16 years, was key to the Falcons’ qualification for next year’s AFCON and drew rave reviews all around with French club, Paris FC. She is in competition with Moroccan Sanâa Mssoudy and Zambian Barbra Banda.

Nnadozie is also in contention to retain her Goalkeeper of the Year award, with Andile Dlamini (South Africa) and Khadija Er-Rmichi as contenders.

There is also Nigerian interest in Women’s Young Player of the Year category, with former junior international Chiamaka Okwuchukwu contending with Egyptian Habiba Sabry and Morocco’s Doha El Madani. Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala won the first-ever title in this category, back in 2021.  

Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and South Africa (in the same order they finished on the podium at the AFCON) are in the race for the Men’s National Team of the Year, and Morocco, South Africa and Nigeria (who are the gong-holders and have finished the year as Africa’s number one on the FIFA ranking) battle for the women’s gong. Nigeria’s Edo Queens are in the shortlist for Women’s Club of the Year, alongside TP Mazembe of DR Congo and South AS FAR of Morocco.

Will we see Lookman standing together with Nnadozie as winners of the Player of the Year awards in both categories (as we saw Nwankwo Kanu and Mercy Akide-Udoh in 1999, and Victor Osimhen and Asisat Oshoala in 2023)?

Award Categories (Nigeria interest)

Men’s Player of the Year (Ademola Lookman)

Women’s Player of the Year (Chiamaka Nnadozie)

Men’s Coach of the Year

Women’s Coach of the Year

Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year

Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year (Chiamaka Nnadozie)

Men’s Interclub Player of the Year

Women’s Interclub Player of the Year

Men’s Young Player of the Year

Women’s Young Player of the Year (Chiamaka Okwuchukwu)

Men’s National Team of the Year (Super Eagles)

Women’s National Team of the Year (Super Falcons)

Men’s Club of the Year

Women’s Club of the Year (Edo Queens)

Goal of the Year

A collection of Africa’s greatest players past and present will grace the 2024 CAF Awards which are to be staged in a glittering ceremony in Marrakech, Morocco on Monday, a celebration of the continent’s football heritage and its bright future.



The event, which will honour the best-performing players, coaches and teams this year, will be held at the Palais des Congrès from 19h00 local time (18h00 GMT/ 20h00 Cairo time/ 21h00 East African time).

The annual gala shines a spotlight on African football excellence over the previous 12 months, but the presence of Legends allows for reflection on our game that goes back much further.


Ex-Mali midfielder Seydou Keita played over 100 times for his country and was a star of the all-conquering FC Barcelona side between 2008 and 2012, collecting every piece of silverware on offer, including the UEFA Champions League twice.

Mohamed Zidan won back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations titles with Egypt in 2008 and 2010, and successive German Bundesliga trophies with Borussia Dortmund in 2011 and 2012, showcasing the flair of Egyptian football.

Victor Wanyama has been a stalwart of Kenyan football since bursting onto the scene more than 15 years ago, helping them to qualification for the 2019 TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations.  

Double Olympic 800-metres champion Caster Semenya, who brings her star quality from outside the world of football, will make her appearance at the event. Former Cameroon goalkeeper Joseph Antoine Bell went to three FIFA World Cups with the Indomitable Lions in a 17-year international career after which he is regarded as one of the continent’s great glovemen.

Women’s football will be well represented too, with former South Africa striker Portia Modise, who scored 101 goals for her country, in attendance, along with ex-Ghana star Alberta Sackey and former Equatorial Guinea forward Genoveva Añonman.

Fabrice Akwa captained Angola to qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, a historic moment for football in the country, scoring the winning goal against Rwanda that took his side to the global showpiece event in Germany.   

The 2024 CAF Awards are a chance to celebrate African unity and excellence, and Legends form a crucial part of that rich tapestry as those who have helped the game grow on the continent in the preceding decades. 

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