FOOTBALL – Nigeria forward Ademola Lookman was named African Footballer of Year by the Confederation of African Football at their awards ceremony yesterday.
The 27-year-old scored a hat-trick as his Italian club Atalanta won the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin in May and earlier in the year helped Nigeria reach the Africa Cup of Nations final in the Ivory Coast.
He netted three times at the AFCON tournament.
London-born Lookman, who has played in the English Premier League for Everton, Fulham and Leicester City, scored 17 goals for Atalanta last season and already has 11 in this campaign. He moved to the Serie A club in 2022.
Lookman was named ahead of Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi, Serhou Guirassy of Guinea, Simon Adingra from the Ivory Coast and South Africa goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.