There was jubilation across Nigerian cities on Monday as Super Eagles striker,
Ademola Lookman, emerged the CAF ‘African Footballer of the Year’ at an awards ceremony in Marrakech, Morocco.
Even before the announcement, many believed Lookman, who attended the award ceremony with his parents, would emerge the ‘Number One’ player in the continent after a stellar season with Atalanta in Italy and the Nigerian national team, the Super Eagles.
Lookman succeeds fellow Nigerian, Victor Osimhen, as winner of the prestigious award, which was first handed out officially by CAF in 1992.
Zambia’s Barbra Banda won the women’s prize after firing the Orlando Pride to the NWSL Championship, scoring the winner in the final against Washington Spirit.
Lookman, 27, scored a hat trick in the Europa League final to earn the Serie A club their first-ever European silverware, and only the second major trophy in their 117-year history.
The former RB Leipzig, Leicester and Fulham forward also scored three times as Nigeria reached the final of the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations, where they were edged out by Sebastian Haller’s late goal for Ivory Coast in the final.
Lookman scored 17 goals and contributed 10 assists in 45 games across all competitions for Atalanta in the 2023-24 season and has made a similarly productive start to this campaign, finding the net 11 times in 19 club games as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team sit two points clear of Napoli at the summit of Serie A.
The other nominees for the gong were Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi, South Africa goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, Borussia Dortmund forward Serhou Guirassy, and Brighton’s Ivorian winger Simon Adingra.
Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah, Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang and Riyad Mahrez have all claimed the prize in recent years.
Samuel Eto’o and Yaya Toure share the record for the most wins, each picking up the award four times.
