CAF Awards 2024: Lookman, Hakimi, and Tapsoba Make Player of the Year Shortlist

Ademola Lookman of Atalanta, Achraf Hakimi from Paris Saint-Germain, and Edmond Tapsoba of Bayer Leverkusen have been selected as finalists for the 2024 African Player of the Year award.

The Confederation of African Football announced the list on Thursday evening, indicating that these three players will compete for the esteemed accolade during the CAF Awards ceremony scheduled to be held in Morocco this December.

Additional nominees include Nigeria's interim captain William Troost-Ekong, who was named the Most Valuable Player of this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, Algeria’s Amine Gouiri from Rennes, Simon Adingra of Cote d'Ivoire representing Brighton & Hove Albion, and Guinea’s Serhou Guirassy, currently with Borussia Dortmund.

Completing the list are Ronwen Williams from South Africa (Mamelodi Sundowns), Soufiane Rahimi from Morocco (Al Ain), and Chancel Mbemba from DR Congo (Olympique Marseille).

Notably, the current African Player of the Year, Victor Osimhen, did not make the shortlist, nor did Bayer Leverkusen's Victor Boniface, despite his significant contributions to the club's Bundesliga triumph and their appearance in the Europa League final.

READ ALSO: Victor Osimhen Wins 2023 CAF Footballer Of The Year Award

CAF has also specified that the awards will honor performances from January 2024 to October 2024.

In the Goalkeeper of the Year category, the finalists include Ronwen Williams (Mamelodi Sundowns) from South Africa, Stanley Nwabali (Chippa United) from Nigeria, Andre Onana (Manchester United) from Cameroon, Lionel Mpasi (Rodez AF) from DR Congo, Amanallah Memmiche (Esperance) from Tunisia, Oussama Benbot (USM Alger) from Algeria, Mostafa Shobeir (Al Ahly) from Egypt, Djigui Diarra (Young Africans) from Mali, Yahia Fofana (Angers) from Côte d'Ivoire, and Munir El Kajoui (RS Berkane) from Morocco.

Williams is pursuing a third consecutive award, having also received a nomination for CAF’s Interclub Player of the Year. He is accompanied on the list by Algeria’s Oussama Benbot (USM Alger), Burkina Faso’s Issoufou Dayo (RS Berkane), Egypt’s Ahmed Sayed 'Zizo' (Zamalek), Egypt’s Hussein El Shahat (Al Ahly), Egypt’s Mostafa Shobeir (Al Ahly), Ghana’s Abdul Aziz Issah (Dreams FC), Ghana’s John Antwi (Dreams FC), Tunisia’s Amanallah Memmiche (Esperance), and Tunisia’s Yassine Merriah (Esperance Sportive).

The nominees for the Men's National Team of the Year include the current African champions, Côte d’Ivoire, alongside Nigeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, DR Congo, Morocco, Mozambique, South Africa, Sudan, and Uganda.

The shortlist for Coach of the Year features Pedro Goncalves (Angola), Brahima Traore (Burkina Faso), Emerse Fae (Côte d'Ivoire), Sebastien Desabre (DR Congo), Jose Gomes (Zamalek), Marcel Koller (Al Ahly), Chiquinho Conde (Mozambique), Hugo Broos (South Africa), Florent Ibenge (Al Hilal), and Kwesi Appiah (Sudan).

The contenders for the Men's Club of the Year award include Petro Atletico (Angola), TP Mazembe (DR Congo), Al Ahly (Egypt), Zamalek (Egypt), Dreams FC (Ghana), RS Berkane (Morocco), Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa), Simba (Tanzania), Young Africans (Tanzania), and Esperance Sportive de Tunis (Tunisia).