Who will succeed Ademola Lookman? This Wednesday, October 22, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) revealed the identity of the 10 nominees for the 2025 African Player of the Year trophy. A list which notably includes Achraf Hakimi and Mohamed Salah. The latter, respectively 6e and 4e of the France Football Ballon d'Or, come forward as the two big favorites.
The Moroccan and the Egyptian will compete with Frank Anguissa (Naples), the Moroccan Oussama Lamlioui (RS Berkane), the Congolese Fiston Mayele (Pyramids), the Gabonese Denis Bouanga (LA FC), the Guinean Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund), the Nigerian Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray) as well as the Senegalese Iliman Ndiaye (Everton) and Pape Matar Sarr (Tottenham).
A list that is debated. Via his X account (formerly Twitter), Nabil Djellit criticized the lack of transparency around nominees and votes. Furthermore, the journalist from the L'Equipe channel points out that the date of the ceremony for these 2025 CAF Awards is still not known, which adds even more cloudiness around this trophy.
“African footballers deserve better”
“I will not make any comment on the lists of nominees for CAF trophies. We don't know who makes the lists, we don't know who votes… We don't know the date of the ceremony. Once again, a charade. African footballers deserve better. Good day », Reacted Nabil Djellit coldly.
It is true that the voting method is quite obscure. The African Ballon d'Or is based on a jury composed of CAF members, journalists, coaches, captains of member associations and representatives of clubs participating in the group stages of interclub competitions. For comparison, the France Football Ballon d'Or, which is awarded following a vote by 100 juries from the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings.
