Ademola Lookman wins the 2024 African Ballon d’Or!

It’s a great day for African Football. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) organized its major individual trophy ceremony this Monday evening at the Movenpick Palais des Congrès in Marrakech. During this prestigious evening, fifteen distinctions will be awarded to actors and actresses of African football who have distinguished themselves over the past year. For the most prestigious category, namely the Ballon d’Or, the nominees were: Ronwen Williams (South Africa, Mamelodi Sundowns), Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast, Brighton), Serhou Guirassy (Guinea, Borussia Dortmund), Achraf Hakimi (Morocco, PSG) and Ademola Lookman (Nigeria, Atalanta). And despite good individual seasons from Williams and Adingra, the battle was essentially between the Nigerian striker, the Guinean striker and the Ivorian winger. Indeed, the race looked fierce until the last second and the debates raged on social networks.

The rest after this ad

While he guided Nigeria to the CAN final by scoring three goals in the competition, Ademola Lookman also won the Europa League with Atalanta by scoring a hat-trick in the final against Bayer Leverkusen. With these three goals, he joined Ferenc Puskás, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Pierino Prati and Jupp Heynckes in the list of players who have scored a hat-trick in a European competition final. He also played in the Coppa Italia final. On German fields, Serhou Guirassy made short work of the competition in the Bundesliga with a tally of 30 goals and 4 assists in 30 matches for Stuttgart, which made him the 2nd top scorer in the Bundesliga. championship. As for Achraf Hakimi, the Moroccan full-back was one of the architects of PSG’s cup-championship double and shone at the CAN and the Olympic Games with his country. As if the battle wasn’t already close enough, the three men had a fantastic start to the season.

Ademola Lookman succeeds Victor Osimhen and Sadio Mané

After awarding the other prizes, the coveted Ballon d’Or was awarded. Ademola Lookman therefore won this trophy: “I want to thank everyone for their support and the love they have given me. I thank my family and my nation who recognized me as the best player in Africa. It’s incredible for me, I’m proud of it», Explained the Atalanta player on stage at the Movenpick Palais des Congrès in Marrakech. Voters must respect several rules to justify their vote: individual performances, collective performance, the impact of the player on the national team, the class of the player and his sense of fair play and finally the consistency of the player.

The rest after this ad

As a reminder, the CAF Awards jury was made up of a panel of journalists, selectors and captains – one per member country of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Based on the official criteria, each representative of his country establishes a list of five players ranging from 1 to 5. The first player earns 5 points, the second 4 points, the third 3 points, the fourth 2 points and the fifth 1 point. The player who collects the most points after the votes are counted wins the African Player of the Year award. In the event of a tie, the number of first places awarded determines the winner. For the 2024 edition of the CAF Awards, voting ended on November 10.