Osimhen missing as CAF names Lookman, Ekong, others for African Player of the year nominees
Confederation of African Football has named Super Eagles defender William Troost-Ekong and teammate Ademola Lookman among nominees for the CAF African Player of the Year award.
Lookman, who was the only African nominated for the 2024 Ballon d’Or, made the shortlist alongside Ekong, who was Player of the Tournament as the Eagles came second in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations played earlier this year in Ivory Coast.
Lookman led his club Atalanta to win the Europa League, their first trophy since 1963, scoring a hat-trick in their 3-0 final win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Ekong was also very impressive at the Nations cup,scoring important three goals for the Nigerian team.
Meanwhile, conspicuously missing on the list is the current African football King, Victor Osimhen.
An apparent poor campaign at his former club side of Napoli, failure to score more goals at AFCON and the saga that enveloped his move away from Napoli to eventually joining Galatasaray are some other factors that might see the crown moving away from Osimhen’s head.
The CAF Awards 2024 cover the period between January 2024 and October 2024.
Ten (10) players who have been shortlisted for the coveted CAF African Player of the Year includes Amine Gouiri (Algeria / Rennes), Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso / Bayer Leverkusen), Simon Adingra (Cote d’Ivoire / Brighton & Hove Albion), Chancel Mbemba (DR Congo / Olympique de Marseille), Serhou Guirassy (Guinea / Borussia Dortmund), Achraf Hakimi (Morocco / Paris Saint-Germain), Soufiane Rahimi (Morocco / Al Ain), Ademola Lookman (Nigeria / Atalanta), William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria / Al Kholood), Ronwen Williams (South Africa / Mamelodi Sundowns)
