Achraf Hakimi, Ademola Lookman Lead the Race for CAF Men’s Player of the Year Award
The shortlists for the seven CAF Awards categories will be narrowed down to three finalists in each, ahead of the December ceremony in Marrakech.
Ten players have been shortlisted as contenders for the CAF African Player of the Year (Men) award. Last year’s finalist, Achraf Hakimi, leads the pack of nominees, after a year where he played a pivotal role in Morocco’s first Olympic medal in football. The full back is one of two Moroccans in the shortlist, as he’s joined by Soufiane Rahimi, who scored eight goals during the Paris Olympics run.
Nigeria is the only other country with two players on the shortlist: Ademola Lookman, hero of Atalanta’s Europa League final win and a major contributor to Nigeria’s run to winning silver at the last African Cup of Nations (AFCON); and team captain William Troost-Ekong, a long-term stalwart for his country.
Other notable shortlisted players include Simon Adingra, an integral of the Ivorian team’s AFCON triumph in January, and Guinean striker Serhou Guirassy, who had a sizzling season in the German league with VFB Stuttgart, scoring 30 goals in the same number of games. Algeria’s Amine Gouiri, Edmond Tapsoba of Burkina Faso, Chancel Mbemba of DR Congo and Ronwen Williams of South Africa, round out the shortlist.
Williams is the only goalkeeper on the shortlist, thanks to a heroic AFCON quarter-final performance where he saved four penalties to help Bafana Bafana into the competition’s semi-final for the first time in four years. Williams is also on the shortlist for the men’s Goalkeeper of the Year and the Interclub Player of the Year awards.
Also on the ten-man shortlist for the goalkeeper award are Morocco’s Munir El Kajoui, Nigeria’s Stanley Nwabali, Andre Onana of Cameroon (and England’s Manchester United), and more.The men’s Coach of the Year shortlist features a mix of national team coaches and club managers. Leading the pack are AFCON-winning coach, Emerse Fae of Côte d’Ivoire, and Marcel Koller, who guided Egypt’s Al Ahly to a record-setting 12th CAF Champions League title. Also in the running are Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos, Al Hilal’s Florent Ibenge, and several others.
Meanwhile, Morocco, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, and South Africa will be hoping to be among the finalists for the men’s National Team of the Year award. Joining them on the shortlist are Mozambique, Angola, Burkina Faso, DR Congo, Sudan and Uganda.
The shortlists for the seven men’s categories – including interclub award categories – at the CAF awards will be trimmed to three finalists before the award ceremony, which is scheduled to take place in Marrakech, Morocco, on December 16.
See full list here.