Soccer-Nigeria's Lookman named African Footballer of the Year

MARRAKECH, Morocco -Nigeria forward Ademola Lookman was named African Footballer of Year by the Confederation of African Football at its awards ceremony on Monday after a stellar campaign for club and country.

The 27-year-old scored a hat-trick as his Italian club Atalanta won the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin in May and earlier in the year helped Nigeria reach the Africa Cup of Nations final in the Ivory Coast.

He netted three times at the AFCON tournament.

London-born Lookman, who has played in the English Premier League for Everton, Fulham and Leicester City, scored 17 goals for Atalanta last season and already has 11 in this campaign. He moved to the Serie A club in 2022.

"This award is a blessing, to be recognised as best player in Africa is something incredible," he said.

"Four years ago my career felt down but now I'm here as the best player in Africa. Don't let your failures stop your dreams."

Lookman was named ahead of Morocco's Achraf Hakimi, Serhou Guirassy of Guinea, Simon Adingra from the Ivory Coast and South Africa goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.

The award is voted for by a panel that includes national team coaches and captains, but no details of the voting tallies were immediately provided.

Lookman is the seventh Nigerian to take the award and succeeds last year’s winner Victor Osimhen.

Nwankwo Kanu (twice), Emmanuel Amunike, Victor Ikpeba and Rashidi Yekini are the other previous Nigerian winners.

Zambia's Barbra Banda was named African Women’s Player of the Year. The 24-year-old helped Orlando Pride claim their first NWSL Championship title with the winning goal against Kansas City after her team had topped the regular season standings.

Two years ago Banda was left out of the Zambia squad for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations finals on gender eligibility grounds but was cleared by FIFA to compete at the 2023 Women’s World Cup and played at this year's Paris Olympics.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ken Ferris)