Despite rumors in his direction in recent days, Achraf Hakimi did not win the title of African Player of the Year 2024, more commonly known as the African Ballon d’Or. Big favorite ahead of Serhou Guirassy, the Nigerian Ademola Lookman was crowned this Monday at the CAF Awards organized in Marrakech, Morocco.
Accompanied by his mother and his brother, who came to support him, just like his president at Paris Saint-GermainNasser Al-Khelaïfi, Achraf Hakimi will have believed in his dream of coronation at home until the end. But it was Ademola Lookman who was preferred this Monday to succeed his compatriot Victor Osimhen as African Player of the Year.
Lookman, the all-terrain
A logical coronation insofar as the Atalanta Bergamo winger was already the only African representative in the Ballon d’Or France Footballwhere he ranked 14th in the rankings. The 27-year-old Super Eagle presented the best balance of the year between club and national performances. Author of a resounding hat-trick in Europa League finale but also solid performances during the CAN (3 goals), marked by his country’s journey to the final, Lookman will have scored 21 goals, club and selection combined, during the reference period (January-October 2024) while delivering around ten assists.
Hakimi still weighed down by the CAN
Despite the title in Ligue 1, the journey to the semi-finals of the Champions League and the bronze medal won at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as captain, Hakimi will have paid for the failure of the Morocco at the CAN, with an elimination in the round of 16 against South Africa, with the added bonus of a decisive missed penalty on his part.
With 18 goals for club and 5 for the national team, a successful transfer to a team of the caliber of Borussia Dortmund, decisive goals with Guinea and choice performances in the Champions League, Guirassy also had arguments to make. But his CAN less successful than Lookman and disturbed by his injury will have made the difference in favor of the Nigerian, new king of continental football.
The other two finalists, Simon Adingra, sole representative of the African champions Ivorianand Ronwen Williams, South Africa’s standard bearer, started from further away. Logically, they were not favored by the jury made up of experts from the Confederation of African Football (CAF), journalists, African selection captains, selectors and captains and coaches of the best African clubs.
