The Confederation of African Football (CAF) unveiled the Top Five Nominees in the men’s category prizes on Monday, as part of the highly anticipated 2024 CAF Awards scheduled to take place in Marrakech on December 16.
Moroccan national player and Paris Saint-Germain star, Achraf Hakimi, is one of the contenders for the African Player of the Year category, along with Ivorian Simon Adingra (Brighton and Hove Albion), Guinea’s Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund), Nigeria’s Ademola Lookman (Atalanta), and South Africa’s Ronwen Williams (Mamelodi Sundowns).
The upcoming CAF Awards ceremony celebrates African football excellence annually. The award recognizes the exceptional performance of clubs, national teams, and African players.
CAF announced seven categories in this year’s awards: Goalkeeper of the Year, Interclub Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Young Player of the Year, Club of the Year, and National Team of the Year.
In addition to Hakimi’s nomination for best African player, another Moroccan player is in the running for Young Player of the Year, and a Moroccan club has been nominated for Club of the Year.
Moroccan international player Eliesse Ben Seghir, who plays for AS Monaco, is competing with Karim Konaté (Ivory Coast/Salzburg), Oumar Diakité (Ivory Coast/Reims), Yankuba Minteh (Gambia/Brighton & Hove Albion), and Lamine Camara (Senegal/AS Monaco) for the Young Player distinction.
For Club of the Year, the five finalist teams include Morocco’s Renaissance Berkane, South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns, Egypt’s Al Ahly and Zamalek, and Tunisia’s Espérance Sportive de Tunis.
The contender lineup for the other award categories is as follows:
Goalkeeper of the Year
Ronwen Williams (South Africa/Mamelodi Sundowns)
• André Onana (Cameroon/Manchester United)
• Yahia Fofana (Ivory Coast/Angers SCO)
• Mostafa Shobeir (Egypt/Al Ahly)
• Stanley Nwabali (Nigeria/Chippa United)
Coach of the Year
• Hugo Broos (South Africa)
• Pedro Gonçalves (Angola)
• Emerse Faé (Ivory Coast)
• Marcel Koller (Al Ahly)
• Sébastien Desabre (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Interclub Player of the Year
• Ronwen Williams (South Africa/Mamelodi Sundowns)
• Issoufou Dayo (Burkina Faso/RS Berkane)
• Ahmed Sayed “Zizo” (Egypt/Zamalek)
• Hussein El Shahat (Egypt/Al Ahly)
• Mostafa Shobeir (Egypt/Al Ahly)
National Team of the Year
• South Africa
• Ivory Coast
• Nigeria
• Democratic Republic of Congo
• Sudan