The last time the Egyptian star won the award was in 2018, and his exclusion from the final list this year surprised observers, especially since Salah is having an exceptional season with Liverpool.
Who are the candidates?
- Simon Adingra (Côte d’Ivoire)
- Ademola Lookman (Nigeria)
- Achraf Hakimi (Morocco)
- Serhou Guerassi (Guinea)
- Ronwen Williams (South Africa)
Why didn’t Salah run?
The Confederation of African Football has placed the weight of nominations based on the players’ performance during the 2023 African Cup of Nations, as well as on their scoring average and achievements in the ranks of their local clubs last season.
The Egyptian national team exited the African Nations in the round of 16, after Salah’s absence due to injury. As for Liverpool, the Egyptian star failed to achieve the league title, the Champions League, or the European or English top scorer title.
Salah’s performance in the 2024-2025 season does not factor much into the award calculations, as the evaluation focuses largely on the 2023-2024 season and the African Cup of Nations, which was held at the beginning of the year in January 2024.
What have others achieved?
- The young man Adingra was one of the prominent stars during the African Nations. He contributed to the qualification of the Côte d’Ivoire national team in the quarter-finals against Mali, and he assisted the two winning goals in the tournament final against Nigeria, to win the championship title. Adingra also won the Best Young Player award at the Africa Cup of Nations.
- Ademola Lookman is the most prominent candidate to win the award, after leading his Italian team Atalanta to achieve the Europa League championship, by scoring a hat-trick in the final against Bayer Leverkusen of Germany. In the African Nations, Lookman scored 3 goals and led Nigeria to the final and lost, and he was also included in the “perfect squad” for the tournament.
- Serho Geraci had an exceptional season with his German club Stuttgart, leading it to second place in the Bundesliga. Geraci also ranked second on the European Golden Shoe list, with 28 goals in the German League.
- Moroccan Achraf Hakimi won the league and cup double in France with his club Paris Saint-Germain, and also won the bronze medal with Morocco at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
- South African national team goalkeeper, Ronwen Williams, won the best goalkeeper award in the 2023 African Nations Championship, and led his country to bronze in the tournament after a heroic performance.
- For his part, Salah scored 18 goals in the English Premier League last season, and he was far from the list of local and European scorers. He also did not participate in the Champions League, and won one title with Liverpool, which was the English League Cup.
It is noteworthy that the award for the best African player of the year 2024 will be awarded in a huge ceremony at the Palais des Congrès in Marrakesh, on Monday night.
