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Victor Osimhen, the Super Eagles’ striker, has been chosen as one of the top contenders for the CAF Player of the Year award.

Mohamed Salah, the star forward for Egypt and Liverpool, and Achraf Hakimi, the defender for Paris Saint-Germain and Morocco, are also in the running.

Francine Anguissa, the Cameroon’s midfielder, Fiston Mayele, Fiston Mayele, Denis Bouanga, Serhou Guirassy, Oussama Lamlioui, Morocco, and the Senegalese duo Iliman Ndiaye and Pape Matar Sarr are other contenders.

On Thursday, the 2025 CAF Awards – Men’s Categories Committee announced the nominees.

READ MORE: Ajibade and Okoronkwo Nominated for CAF Women’s Player of the Year.

The award recognizes the continent’s top players, coaches, clubs, and national teams.

For the time being considered, 6 January to 15 October 2025, players and coaches have had a significant impact on the African and global game, according to a statement from CAF.

A panel of experts, which included CAF Technical &amp, Development Committee members, experienced coaches, CAF Legends, and selected media representatives, chose 10 nominees for each category based on their performance in all competitions, added the continent’s football governing body.

Stanley Nwabali, Nigeria’s top safe hands, was also nominated for the award for “goalkeeper of the year.”

For the top price, he will have Morocco’s Yassine Bonou, South Africa’s Ronwen Williams, Cameroon’s André Onana, and Senegalese Edouard Mendy to contend with.

Other honors include club of the year, interclub player of the year, coach of the year, young player of the year, national team of the year, and club of the year.

 , see full list below.

MAN’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Nominees:

• Andre Frank Zambo-Anguissa (Cameroon/Napoli)
• Fiston Mayele (DR Congo/Pyramids)
• Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/Egypt)
• Denis Bouanga (Gabon/Los Angeles FC)
• Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund/Guinea)
• Moroccan/Paris Saint-Germain Achraf Hakimi
• Oussama Lamlioui (Morocco/RS Berkane)
• Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray/Nigeria)
• Iliman Ndiaye (Senegal/Everton)
• Pape Matar Sarr (Tottenham Hotspur/Senegal)
  

MAN’S GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR

Nominees:

• Andre Onana (Cameroon/Trabzonspor), btw,
• Vozinha (Cape Verde/Chaves)
• Ahmed El Shenawy (Pyramids/Egypt)
• Munir Mohamedi (RS Berkane/Morocco)
• Yassine Bonou (Morocco/Al Hilal)
• Stanley Nwabali (Chippa United/Nigeria)
• Algerian Ambassador Edouard Mendy
• Marc Diouf (Tengueth/Senegal)
• Ronwen Williams (South Africa/Mamelodi Sundowns)
• Aymen Dahmen (CS Sfaxien/Tunisia)

MAN’S INTERCLUB PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Nominees:

Ismael Belkacemi (Al Ahli Tripoli/Algeria)
• Blati Toure (Pyramids FC/Burkinabe)
• Issoufou Dayo (RS Berkane/Burkinabe)
• Fiston Mayele (DR Congo/Pyramids)
• Ahmed Samy (Pyramids/Egypt)
• Emam Ashour (Al Ahly/Egypt)
• Ibrahim Adel (Pyramids/Egypt)
• Mohamed Hrimat (Morocco/AS FAR)
• Mohamed Chibi (Pyramids/Morocco)
• Oussama Lamlioui (Morocco/RS Berkane)
• Shomari Kapombe (Simba/Tanzania)

MAN’S COACH OF THE YEAR

Nominees:

• Bubista (Cape Verde)
• Egyptian Hossam Hassan
• Pyramids’ Krunoslav Jurcic
• Sami Trabelsi (Tunisia)
• Romuald Rakotondrabe (Madagascar CHAN)
• Moine Chaabani (RS Berkane)
• Moroccan CHAN Tarik Sektioui
• Mohamed Ouahbi ( Morocco U-20)
• Moroccan Walid Regragui
• Pape Thiaw (Senegal)

MEN’S YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Nominees:

• Asharaf Tapsoba (Real du Faso/Burkinabe)
• Alynho Haidara (Cote d’Ivoire/Mainz 05 Jacqueville)
• (DR Congo/Sunderland) Noah Sadiki
• Abdellah Ouazane (Morocco/Ajax)
• Houssam Essadak (Morocco/US Touarga)
• Othmane Maamma (Morocco/Watford)
• Daniel Bameyi (Primorje/Nigeria)
• Momoh Kamara (Minnesota United/Sierra Leone)
• Mbekezeli Mbokazi (South Africa/Orlando Pirates)
• Tylon Smith (Queens Park Rangers/South Africa)

MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM OF THE YEAR

Nominees:

• Algeria 
• Cape Verde
• Cote d’Ivoire
• Egypt
• Ghana
• Morocco U-20
• Morocco
• Senegal
• South Africa
• Tunisia

MEN’S CLUB OF THE YEAR

Nominees:

• CR Belouizdad (Algeria)
• CS Constantine (Algeria)
• ASEC Mimosas (Cote d’Ivoire)
• Egyptian pyramids
• Moroccan RS Berkane
• South African Mamelodi Sundowns
• South African Pirates of Orlando
• South Africa’s Stellenbosch
• Al Hilal (Sudan)
• Simba (Tanzania)

With a 3-0 win at St. James’ Park, Newcastle inflicted more Champions League pain on Jose Mourinho’s Benfica with the debut of Harvey Barnes.

As Benfica continue to struggle in Europe’s elite competition this season, Anthony Gordon fired the Magpies in front.

With two composed right-footed finishes, Newcastle were well on the verge of qualifying for the league phase, which was introduced just after the hour mark.

In their opening game, Eddie Howe’s men won two games, including a 4-0 victory over Union Saint-Gilloise, following a defeat to Barcelona in the previous one.

In the Champions League standings, Newcastle moves up above Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Mourinho, who respects his mentor and former Newcastle boss Bobby Robson, who is embodied in a statue at St. James’ Park, admitted to being a “little Magpie” to Portuguese press last month.

Robson used Mourinho as a translator at Sporting Lisbon, Porto, and Barcelona to give him a break while he was coaching.

Robson requested the Portuguese work for him as an assistant manager at Newcastle in 1999, but Mourinho turned down the opportunity to take over as manager following his successful debut at&nbsp, Benfica.

Mourinho’s Chelsea resumption last month saw the Portuguese giants lose 1-0.

READ ALSO: Champions PSG vs. Leverkusen 7-2 in the Champions League

Benfica are the only team to have lost three of their three Champions League games this season, but they were left disappointed that they didn’t create more chances in the first half.

Dodi Lukebakio was a constant threat to visitors down the road.

Before Lukebakio’s curling effort from long range crashed off the post, the Belgium winger forced Nick Pope into a brilliant save at his near post.

The hosts, however, made the 32-minute breakthrough.

Jacob Murphy’s low cross was played in by Bruno Guimaraes down the right, and Gordon converted it for his third Champions League goal this season.

When Lewis Miley headed over from a corner completely unmarked, Newcastle should have increased their lead.

Antonio Silva fouled Barnes, who had already sped clear, before firing low and hard into the far corner, who was given the assist for the second goal.

Seven minutes into Newcastle’s Premier League goalscoring woes were put to one side by Gordon’s put-ahead goal. Barnes was followed by another composed finish.

To place 14th in the table, Howe’s team has only seven goals in its eight league games.

However, they could contend for a top-eight place finish in the Champions League to automatically advance to the last 16 after games against Athletic Bilbao, Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen, and PSV before a difficult final-night stopover of reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain.

As both teams finished with 10 men in the Champions League on Tuesday, defending champions Paris Saint-Germain defeated Bayer Leverkusen 7-2 on their return from injury.

Dembele, who had made his first appearance since early September with a hamstring injury, made his debut just three minutes after being substituted for PSG’s sixth.

Willian Pacho, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Nuno Mendes, and Vitinha also scored as the visitors played down the slack at Leverkusen’s BayArena while Desire Doue and Vitinha also netted.

“We are a team that always aspires to succeed,” said the coach. We want to win everything over once more this year, according to PSG coach Luis Enrique.

“We will have to work hard, but we still have confidence,” he said. This title needs to be reclaimed.

Illia Zabarnyi was sent off for PSG in the 37th minute for a second spot kick of the match, but Aleix Garcia scored both of the hosts’ goals.

Robert Andrich was also dismissed from Leverkusen after he had just slammed his elbow against Doue.

[READ ALSO] [/READ], High-flying Arsenal crush Atletico Madrid As Gyokeres Ends Goal Drought

Kasper Hjulmand, the coach for Leverkusen, claimed that his team “lost it in seven minutes before halftime.”

He continued, “We were level, but we wanted too much.” In that seven-minute period, we made too many errors and were too open.

We have the world’s best team at the moment. They are very strong.

PSG have struggled with injuries and inconsistent play this year, but once both teams were reduced to ten men, they won the game.

PSG’s attempt to compete for second place in Europe will face more difficult challenges than Leverkusen’s rebuilding team, which only had six starters who had just signed for the club in the summer.

The French champions displayed both their formidable wealth and the strength needed to overcome setbacks brought on by the breakthrough campaign from the previous year.

Dembele begins with a bench position.

The announcement that Dembele and Marquinhos were fit enough to travel to Germany boosted PSG’s preparation for the game.

The pair, who had a crucial role in PSG’s barnstorming treble last season, watched from the bench as PSG took the lead after just seven minutes.

For Pacho to head in from the far post, Mendes crosses over the Leverkusen defense.

With 25 minutes left, Alejandro Grimaldo hit the post with his spot kick, which earned Leverkusen a penalty for a Zabarnyi handball.

When Andrich’s needless foul on Doue on 33 minutes reduced Leverkusen to 10 men, the writing was on the wall.

However, shortly afterward, Zabarnyi’s performance went from bad to nightmare, with Garcia scoring from the spot and seeing red for clumsily downing Christian Kofane.

The French side reacted by scoring three goals in eight minutes to stun the hosts instead of reacting with a tighter red card.

To enter the break 4-1 up and cruising, Doue scored twice on either side of a Kvaratskhelia scorcher.

Five minutes into the second half, Mendes scored to give PSG a start.

PSG had the final word, despite Garcia’s 54-minute long, all-time Leverkusen triumph.

Dembele scored the winning goal from a close angle, and Vitinha finished the game with even more gloss, completing an incredible European night for the defending champions.

Manchester City defeated Villarreal 2-0 on Tuesday to maintain their excellent goalscoring run.

With their victory at the Estadio de la Ceramica, which was secured by first-half goals from Bernardo Silva and Haaland, Pep Guardiola’s side remained unbeaten in the league.

Haaland, a Norwegian target player, has scored 22 goals in those 12 games for the club and nation in each of his 12 previous appearances.

Phil Foden was left out of Guardiola’s starting lineup after City won 2-0 against Everton at the weekend to end a year without a win on the road in Europe.

As City took control of the match and began to find gaps in Villarreal’s defense, with Savinho looking confident, Haaland headed a Silva cross wide.

After 17 minutes, Rico Lewis cut the ball back in a clever move for the striker to fire home from six yards out.

Third-placed Spanish side Villarreal started to establish themselves in the competition, but City was able to squander their lead before half-time to sabotage their lead.

To effectively seal the game, Savinho crossed for the unmarked Silva to nod past Brazilian stopper Luis Junior.

One of the few negative things the visitors have lost so far in the season was midfielder Nico Gonzalez, who was also sidelined.

The English side continued to dominate until Villarreal threatened in the final 20 minutes.

Gianluigi Donnarumma, the city goalkeeper, saved Nicola Pepe’s drive before heading wide.

Pepe also volleyed over for City, who were able to oust the visitors.

Luiz Junior was successful in fielding Haaland’s fierce strike at the other end.

The 25-year-old Norwegian was depressed once more and was limited to just one goal, which is no mean feat.

Omar Marmoush made his first appearance for the club since August with a knee injury and five minutes left.

In the final stages, Villarreal almost opened the scoring with Renato Veiga’s header, which left Donnarumma stranded in the spot but hit the post and popped out.

With just one point from their first three matches this season, Marcelino Garcia Toral’s side have yet to win in Europe.

In the second half of Arsenal’s perfect Champions League debut on Tuesday, Victor Gyokeres scored twice as they defeated Atletico Madrid 4-0 to extend their perfect start.

Before Gyokeres’ nine-game goal drought was ended in a 13-minute period either side of the hour mark, Gabriel Magalhaes and Gabriel Martinelli opened the floodgates.

The Premier League leaders are also sitting comfortably at the top of the table, just two points clear of Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan from their opening three games, with the only other team to have earned nine points from those three games.

In a stunning campaign for the Gunners, Mikel Arteta’s lack of goals was one of the players’ concerns.

In his 11 previous appearances, the Swede had only scored three goals in home games against Leeds and Nottingham Forest, ending Arsenal’s lack of a clinical number nine.

Diego Simeone will be concerned about Atletico’s continued lack of a win away from home this season and how the Spanish side collapsed following a competitive opening.

With yet another clean sheet this season, Arsenal has only conceded three of its own in all competitions.

Julian Alvarez missed a chance to lead the visitors in the first half thanks to a poor David Raya clearance, which he missed twice, before hitting the ball from outside the box shortly after half-time.

Champions PSG defeats Leverkusen 7-2 in the Champions League READ ALSO.

Arsenal’s best attempt of the first 45 minutes was Eberechi Eze’s deflected effort, which also fell off the woodwork.

However, Arteta’s men were able to rely on their strength from set pieces, as they have frequently done in recent years, to achieve the breakthrough.

The stooping Gabriel tapped a header into the bottom corner after Declan Rice’s in-swinging free kick was perfectly weighted.

Only two of Arteta’s changes to left-back Myles Lewis Skelly came on Saturday, when they won 1-0 at Fulham.

The England international has played second fiddle to Riccardo Calafiori most of the season, but his driving run helped Arteta open the door to a second goal.

Martinelli scored his third goal in as many Champions League games by curling into the far corner after Lewis Skelly had picked him out.

When Gyokeres’ shot from close range deflected off David Hancko, giving Jan Oblak a little hope, he finally received the fortune he needed to end his miserable spell in front of goal.

After Gabriel once more headed the first header into Rice’s corner, Gyokeres converted from even closer to the goal three minutes later.

With a focus on Crystal Palace’s Premier League trip on Sunday, Arteta could afford the luxury of reserving Gabriel, Gyokeres, Eze, Jurrien Timber, and Martin Zubimendi in the dying stages.

For the first time since 2009, Arsenal reached the semi-finals, but they lost to PSG, who had become the eventual champion.

After another significant summer of significant transfer spending, the Gunners’ quest to conquer Europe for the first time in club history makes them even stronger.

Only three points have been scored in Atletico’s first three games, compared to their previous defeat at Liverpool last month.