Atalanta and Nigeria wide man Ademola Lookman tonight succeeded Victor Osimhen as the CAF men’s Player of the Year at an awards ceremony in Marrakech, Morocco.
Truth be told, it would have been a travesty if Lookman didn’t win the award, especially after his hat-trick heroics in last season’s Europa League final.
Osimhen won the award last year and this is the first time Nigeria went back to back since Nwankwo Kanu won in 1996 and was succeeded the following year by Victor Ikpeba.
27 year old Lookman has come a long way from the Charlton academy in a career that didn’t really live up to early promise and took him to Everton, Leipzig, Fulham and Leicester, until he found what is looking like a spiritual home in the tranquillity of Bergamo with Atalanta in 2022. His game also seems to have gone up a notch after he switched loyalty from England the country of his birth – which he represented at youth level – to Nigeria, the country of his parents.
He has since scored 8 goals in 22 appearances for the Super Eagles, including being instrumental in their reaching the final of the last Africa Cup of Nations.
He looked regal at his crowning this evening, resplendent in traditional “agbada” clothing in Nigeria’s colours of green. After accepting the award from Fifa president Gianni Infantino, Lookman, who finished 14th in the 2024 Fifa Balon d’Or as the best player in the world, first expressed gratitude in Yoruba and went on to thank God, his teammates for club and country and added “this award is a blessing to me, family and nation to be recognised as the best player in Africa”. He called it “incredible” and spoke about his struggles just four years ago before delivering a powerful message to young children: “Don’t let your failures weigh you down that they break your wings. Turn your pain into power and continue to fly”.
At this rate, the sky is the limit for this soaring Super Eagle.
