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The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has unveiled the top five nominees for the 2024 African Player of the Year award, with Nigeria's Ademola Lookman (27) and Morocco's Achraf Hakimi (26) among those making the shortlist. Rounding out the list are Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast/Brighton & Hove Albion), Serhou Guirassy (Guinea/Borussia Dortmund), and Ronwen Williams (South Africa/Mamelodi Sundowns). CAF initially released a ten-man shortlist in October but has now trimmed it to five nominees.
Notable omissions include Africa Cup of Nations MVP William Troost-Ekong, Burkina Faso international Edmond Tapsoba - who was pivotal in Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten run last season - and DR Congo’s Chancel Mbemba. The 2024 edition of the CAF Awards, scheduled to take place in Marrakech, Morocco, on December 16th, will crown a new African Player of the Year following the exclusion of Nigeria and Galatasaray star Victor Osimhen from the final nominees.
According to CAF, the awards will recognize performances from the period between January 2024 and October 2024. Williams has earned his second nomination in the Goalkeeper of the Year category. He will be aiming to surpass Manchester United and Cameroon star Andre Onana, Nigeria’s Stanley Nwabali, Ivory Coast’s Yahia Fofana, and Egypt’s Mostafa Shobeir to claim the top spot.
South Africa’s Williams is in contention for a third award, having also been nominated for CAF’s Interclub Player of the Year. He is joined on the shortlist by Issoufou Dayo (Burkina Faso/RS Berkane), Ahmed Sayed 'Zizo' (Egypt/Zamalek), Hussein El Shahat (Egypt/Al Ahly), and Mostafa Shobeir (Egypt/Al Ahly). The shortlist for the Men's National Team of the Year includes reigning African champions Ivory Coast, along with Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan and DR Congo.
The Coach of the Year shortlist features Pedro Goncalves (Angola), Emerse Fae (Ivory Coast), Sebastien Desabre (DR Congo), Marcel Koller (Al Ahly), and Hugo Broos (South Africa) Al Ahly (Egypt), Zamalek (Egypt), RS Berkane (Morocco), Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa), and Esperance Sportive de Tunis (Tunisia) will compete for the Men's Club of the Year honors.
