Nominated for the African Ballon d'Or, the ceremony of which was held Monday evening in Marrakech, Achraf Hakimi was not crowned. It was the Nigerian striker Ademola Lookman, once courted by PSG last summer, who was preferred.
Achraf Hakimi left empty-handed from the CAF trophy ceremony organized Monday evening at his home in Morocco near Marrakech. Well, almost empty-handed since the PSG right-back was still elected to the African team of the year, being positioned as the right axial in a 3-4-3 with dubious tactical coherence.
Champion of France and semi-finalist of the Champions League with PSG in 2024, as well as bronze medalist with Morocco at the Paris Olympics, Hakimi came with his mother and his brother for a more prestigious trophy, that of African Player of the year 2024 more commonly known as the African Ballon d'Or. Nasser Al-Khelaïfi was also present at the ceremony.
Lookman crowned African Ball d'Or ahead of Hakimi
But Hakimi will not become the second African Ballon d'Or in the history of PSG, 30 years after George Weah, since it was the Nigerian Ademola Lookman who was crowned, he who won the Europa League with Atalanta Bergamo in 2024 by scoring a resounding hat-trick in the final and reached the CAN final with the Super Eagles. Lookman had also been announced in the sights of PSG during the last summer transfer window.
Concerning Hakimi, he is undoubtedly paying for the poor CAN 2024 of the Atlas Lions, eliminated in the round of 16 by South Africa in a match during which the Parisian right side missed the equalizing penalty at the 85th minute by sending his shot onto the crossbar. It remains to be seen whether the Moroccan will be back in training this Tuesday morning to prepare for Wednesday evening's shock against Monaco.
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