Ademola Lookman on Ballon d’Or Award List, Tipped to Emerge African Best Player
Ademola Lookman Only African Nominated For Ballon d’Or Award, Tipped to Win African Best Player
Super Eagles of Nigeria forward, Ademola Lookman, has been nominated for the 2024 men’s Ballon d’Or award. In the list announced by France Football Magazine on Wednesday, the 26-year-old Atalanta of Italy player was shortlisted alongside 29 players for the coveted award. He is the only African player in the list.
Lookman was in scintillating form as Atalanta won its first-ever European trophy last season, with the Nigerian scoring a hat-trick in the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen.
He scored scored 17 goals and made 11 assists in all for Atalanta last season.
The former Everton player was also instrumental in the Super Eagles run to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire early this year.
He scored two goals as the Nigerian team finished as runners up in the competition after losing 2-1 to the hosts in the final.
This year’s Ballon d’Or list is dominated by players from the Spanish national team which won the Euro 2024 in the summer and the Real Madrid team that won the UEFA Champions League.
Some notable names on the list include Jude Bellingham, Vini Junior, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe.
See Men’s list of nominees
Antonio Rudiger – Real Madrid
Kylian Mbappe – Real Madrid
Lautaro Martinez – Inter
Ademola Lookman – Atalanta
Alejandro Grimaldo – Bayer Leverkusen
Dani Carvajal – Real Madrid
William Saliba – Arsenal
Lamine Yamal – Barcelona
Bukayo Saka – Arsenal
Hakan Calhanoglu – Inter
Rodri – Man City
Declan Rice- Arsenal
Harry Kane – Bayern Munich
Cole Palmer – Chelsea
Vitinha – PSG
Vinicius Jr – Real Madrid
Martin Odegaard – Arsenal
Dani Olmo – Barcelona
Florian Wirtz – Bayer Leverkusen
Mats Hummels – Roma
Erling Haaland – Man City
Nicolas Williams – Athletic Bilbao
Granit Xhaka – Bayer Leverkusen
Artem Dovbik – Roma
Toni Kroos – Real Madrid
Jude Bellingham – Real Madrid
Phil Foden – Man City
Ruben Dias – Man City
Federico Valverde – Real Madrid
Emiliano Martinez – Aston Villa
