The final three nominees for the prestigious 2024 CAF awards will be unveiled today, December 12, ahead of the ceremony set to take place in Marrakech, Morocco, on Monday, December 16.
The CAF Awards began in 2000, although the primary award, to name the African Footballer of the Year, was began by CAF in 1992.
Before that, a prize for the continent’s outstanding male player of the year was given out by French publication France Football, with Mali’s Salif Keita winning the first award in 1970.
The men’s shortlist for Player of the Year has already been narrowed down to five outstanding players, with Brighton & Hove Albion winger Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast), Borussia Dortmund’s Serhou Guirassy (Guinea), Paris Saint-Germain’s Achraf Hakimi (Morocco), Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman (Nigeria), and South Africa’s Ronwen Williams (Mamelodi Sundowns) all vying for the top prize.
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Williams, a standout goalkeeper, is also a contender for the Goalkeeper of the Year category after placing ninth in the Yashin Trophy at the 2024 Ballon d’Or awards.
Meanwhile, the women’s category has also seen fierce competition for the coveted Player of the Year award. Zambia’s Barbra Banda leads the five-player shortlist following a stellar year of goal-scoring feats for both her club and country.
The remaining four shortlisted players for the CAF Women’s Player of the Year include Malawi’s dynamic Chawinga sisters, Tabitha and Temwa, Morocco’s Sanaâ Mssoudy, and Nigeria’s Chiamaka Nnadozie.
The shortlisted nominees for both the men’s and women’s categories will be further narrowed down to the final three today.
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The 2024 CAF Awards will take place at the Palais des Congrès in Marrakech, Morocco on Monday December 16.
The ceremony itself is set to begin at 19hoo Moroccan time (18h00 GMT/19h00 Lagos time/20h00 Johannesburg, CAT time/21h00 East African time).
