•Ademola Lookman
The highly anticipated 2024 CAF Awards to be staged in Marrakech, Morocco, will take place today as the Confederation of African Football (CAF) is set to honour the best of African footballers, coaches, national teams and others.
However, all eyes will be on Super Eagles and Atalanta of Italy forward, Ademola Lookman, who is highly tipped to succeed compatriot, Victor Osimhen, who won the award last year after about fourteen years waits since Nigerian footballer won the coveted individual award last, reports Daily Independent.
Of the nominees still in contention, perhaps only one player – Achraf Hakimi – is being touted to challenge the Super Eagles winger. Hakimi was also nominated last time around, and ultimately finished second in the voting behind Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen. He has been tipped, especially by Moroccan outlets, to succeed Osimhen, even as other stakeholders believe Nigerian Lookman is the man to beat in the award.
The records of Lookman and Hakimi stand out nevertheless. For instance, during the period in question for this year’s award – January to October 2024 – Hakimi won a French league-and-cup double with Paris Saint-Germain, and was named in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year.
He impressed at the Olympics, scoring in Morocco’s 4-0 quarterfinal rout over the United States as the North Africans ultimately clinched bronze, but ultimately failed in his two major objectives – at the Africa Cup of Nations and in the Champions League.
On the flip side, in the Champions League, PSG limped out against Borussia Dortmund in the semifinal, while Hakimi was part of an underwhelming Morocco showing as they didn’t even reach the Last Eight at the last AFCON, with the fullback missing a decisive penalty against South Africa.
But whatever Hakimi could have achieved within the period under scrutiny pales into insignificance when the feats of Lookman is reeled out and that is why greater number of football stakeholders, even outside Nigeria, believe that the Atalanta man deserves to be honoured as Africa’s finest in 2024.
The 27-year-old was Nigeria’s key creative force at the Nations Cup, inspiring the Super Eagles’ attacking unit with Osimhen not at his sharpest, and showcasing his inventiveness as the West African giants reached the final.
He became the first player to score a hat-trick in the Europa League/UEFA Cup final since 1975, and the fastest to register a treble in the fixture, doing so within 26 minutes. In fact, only five players had previously scored hat-tricks in the final of any major UEFA club competition, and never before has an African achieved the feat.
During the rest of the year, for Atalanta, Lookman has maintained a high level of performance while establishing himself as one of Serie A’s most watchable players. The Atalanta Player of the Season made the Team of the Year for the Europa League, and ended the season having had a direct hand in 18 top flight goals for La Dea.
As long as Ballon D’Or is concerned, Lookman is the 14th best player in the world as he was the only African nominated in the prestigious award this year.
Week in week out, Lookman has continued to win man-of-the-match awards, with the latest coming in their Champions League loss to Real Madrid in Italy where he dusted such other stars like Vini Junior and Mbappe to win the award.
Meanwhile, Chiamaka Nnadozie, the Super Falcons and Paris Femini of France goalkeeper, is also highly favoured to retain her crown as the safest women pair of gloves.
There are also other Nigerian nominees like the Super Eagles, the Super Falcons and others.
