Nigerian duo of Ademola Lookman and Chiamaka Nnadozie have made the final three nominations for the Men and Women CAF Player Of The Year respectively.
CAF unveiled the final nominees in each of the categories on Thursday; four days to the award ceremony slated to be held in Marrakech, Morocco on December 16.
In the final three of the men’s category, Lookman will contest with South Africa goalkeeper and captain Ronwen Williams and Ivoairn youngster, Simon Adingra. In the women’s segment, Nnadozie will battle South Africa’s Andile Dlamini and Morocco’s Khajida ER-Rmichi.
Lookman has been unbelievably incredible for club and country. He started the last one year under review with an excellent start to the season with Atalanta.
He shone like a million stars for Nigeria at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire helping the three-time African champions reach the final of the competition, contributing three goals and two assists in the process.
The 27-year-old was named in the team of the tournament by CAF. The former RB Leipzig star further announced himself on the global stage in the Europa League final back in May at the Aviva Stadium in Ireland.
The skillful winger hit a hat-trick in Atalanta’s 3-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen to hand his side their first-ever European title. Before then, the Bergamo outfit had reached the final of the Italian Cup which they lost to Juventus.
Nnadozie had an excellent outing for Nigeria at the last Africa Women’s Championship, helping the nine-time winners pitch a ticket to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia.
As the skipper of the team, Nigeria reached the last 16, qualifying from the Group of Death which had Ireland, hosts Australia and world champions Canada.
Also, the Paris FC goalkeeper played an important role as the Super Eagles picked one of the two tickets in Africa to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics Games for the first time in 16 years.
Nigeria swept all the awards last year, with Victor Osimhen and Asisat Oshoala picking the player of the year for both male and female. Nigeria will make history if they are able to repeat the feat next week.
Lookman is considered as the overwhelming favourite to replace Osimhen as the African reigning king. It would be the first time a Super Eagles will succeed another since Victor Ikpeba succeeded Nwankwo Kanu in 1997.
