Super Eagles forward Ademola Lookman and goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali have both been named in the final five-man shortlist for the CAF player and keeper of the year awards but defender William Troost-Ekong missed out on the final list.
Newsonspot reports that three weeks after releasing the initial long list, CAF has officially unveiled the top five nominees in each of the men’s categories of the upcoming CAF Awards 2024, set to take place in Marrakech, Morocco by December 16.
Atalanta Europa League hero, Lookman, leads the final shortlist for the men’s Player of The Year Award along with Ivory Coast’s Simon Adingra, Guinea striker Serhou Guirassy, Morocco defender Achraf Hakimi and South Africa goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.
AFCON 2023 MVP, Troost-Ekong is a surprise omission from the final shortlist.
Chippa United goalkeeper, Nwabali, who starred for Nigeria during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast earlier this year, will go head-to-head with Williams again for the goalkeeper’s gong along with Manchester United and Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana, Ivory Coast’s Yahia Fofana and Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir.
Former Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro was also excluded from the final shortlist for the coach’s award which has Ivory Coast’s AFCON-winning coach Emerse Fae, Pedro Goncalves (Angola), Sebastien Desabre (DR Congo), Marcel Koller (Al Ahly) and Hugo Broos (South Africa).
Nigeria is, however, still in the running for the national team of the year alongside reigning African champions Ivory Coast, DR Congo, South Africa and Sudan.
Other categories announced by CAF include Interclub Player of The Year, Young Player of The Year and Club of the Year, making a total of seven categories confirmed by CAF in the men’s category of the awards.
The 2024 CAF Awards cover the period between January 2024 and October 2024.
Lookman was one of Nigeria’s best players at the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire. He scored three goals as the Eagles won silver at the tournament. He was also named in the competition’s best XI alongside captain Willian Troost-Ekong.
The 27-year-old was ranked 14th best player in the world at the 2024 men’s Ballon d’Or ceremony – the only African to make the top 30.
Lookman has been tipped to be the next award winner, following the footsteps of Victor Osimhen, who won the prize in 2023 and following his superb performance for club and country in the period under review.
He scored three goals at the 2023 AFCON tournament earlier this year and ended the season with an eye-catching performance against Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Europa League final where he netted a hat-trick to take his 2023/24 tally to 17 goals and 10 assists in all competitions for Atlanta.
This season he has continued similarly with eight goals and five assists in 14 games so far this season.
