Nigeria forward Ademola Lookman was crowned African Footballer of the Year by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) at its awards ceremony on Monday.
The 27-year-old dazzled in May, scoring a hat trick to lead Atalanta to a Europa League victory over Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin.
Earlier, Lookman played a key role in Nigeria’s run to the Africa Cup of Nations final in Ivory Coast, netting three goals during the tournament.
Born in London, Lookman has previously played in the Premier League with Everton, Fulham, and Leicester City. Since joining Atalanta in 2022, he scored 17 goals last season and has already netted 11 in the current campaign.
“This award is a blessing; to be recognized as the best player in Africa is something incredible,” he said.
“Four years ago, my career was 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, Guinea’s Serhou Guirassy, Ivory Coast’s Simon Adingra and South Africa goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.
The award is voted on 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, 24, was named African Women’s Player of the Year.
Two years ago, she was left out of the 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.