CAF Awards: Osimhen faces stiff Salah, Hakimi battle

• Ajibade, Nnadozie seek honours

Winner of the 2023 CAF Men’s Player of The Year Award, Victor Osimhen, returns to the podium of the prestigious award on Wednesday night in Rabat, facing a stiff competition from Egypt and Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah and Achraf Hakimi of Morocco and PSG, The PUNCH reports.

The 2025 award will be handed out at a ceremony in Rabat, Morocco, today with Super Falcons captain, Rasheedat Ajibade also in the running for the Women’s Player of The Year Award, while goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie is primed for her third consecutive honour.

The ceremony honours the continent’s top performers for the period from January 6 to October 15, 2025.

In the men’s category, Osimhen, Salah and Hakimi were announced as the finalists from an initial 10-player shortlist on Sunday.

Winner in 2023, Osimhen’s credentials for this year’s honour are his goals for club and country in the period under review. The Galatasaray striker scored 37 goals and six assists in 41 appearances in the 2024/25 season, helping the club win a domestic double in the process.

Salah helped Liverpool to the Premier League title in the 2024/25 season with 29 goals and 18 assists in 38 starts in the competition.

Right-back Hakimi was outstanding as PSG lifted the UEFA Champions League title and also won the French Ligue 1, Coupe de France and UEFA Super Cup, along with reaching the final of the FIFA Club World Cup.

In the women’s category, Nigeria’s Ajibade, who switched from Atletico Madrid Women to PSG and led the Super Falcons to 10th WAFCON title, joins Morocco’s Ghizlaine Chebbak of Al Hilal and Sanaa Mssoudy of AS FAR as the top three finalists.

Super Falcons goalkeeper, Nnadozie, will hope to win a third consecutive women’s best keeper award as she goes up against Morocco’s Khadija Er-Rmichi and South Africa’s Andile Dlamini in the Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year category.

Her nomination comes after a season of consistent displays between the posts for both her previous club Paris FC and the Super Falcons.

Before moving to Brighton during the summer, she inspired Paris FC to their first title in about 20 years.

Nigeria has had a heavy presence in the awards in the last two editions as there could be five awards up for grabs for the country.

The Super Falcons are in the Women’s National Team of The Year category along with Ghana and Morocco.

Flamingos captain, Shakirat Moshood, who plays for Bayelsa Queens, earned a place in the Women’s Young Player of the Year shortlist alongside Morocco’s Doha El Madani and Senegal’s Adji Ndiaye.

CAF emphasised her rapid development and impact in domestic and continental competitions as factors behind her inclusion.

She led the Prosperity Girls to the final of the WAFU B Zonal Champions League as the club missed out on penalty shootout to ASEC Mimosas but she won the highest goal scorer before captaining the Flamingos to the second round of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.