The 2025 CAF Awards could throw Nigerian football into another round of controversy as the newly released voting breakdown shows several Nigerians voting against their own leading candidates, Soccernet.ng reports.
Morocco and PSG full-back, Achraf Hakimi was crowned African Footballer of the Year after a commanding victory in the ballot.
He amassed 533 points, nearly as many as Mohamed Salah and Victor Osimhen combined. Salah finished with 317 points, while Osimhen – despite winning the Turkish double with Galatasaray, finishing as top scorer, and sweeping individual awards – was a distant third with 240. Osimhen won the award in 2023, beating both Salah and Hakimi to the honour.
Hakimi’s triumph was historic as he became the first Moroccan to win the award since 1998, a well deserved reward for a season in which he won Ligue 1, lifted the Champions League with PSG and helped Morocco qualify for the 2026 World Cup unbeaten.
Yet the bigger talking point in the country will not be about Hakimi’s rise but the voting patterns within Nigeria’s own contingent.
One of the most unexpected ballots came from Super Eagles legend Daniel Amokachi, voting as a CAF Technical Expert. Amokachi placed Osimhen fifth, awarding him just one point. His top three were Hakimi, André-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Mohamed Salah, with Serhou Guirassy in fourth.
By contrast, Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle and captain William Troost-Ekong both voted Osimhen first, Hakimi second and Pape Matar Sarr third.
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Super Falcons, Nwabali and Moshood also undermined by Nigerian votes
The pattern extended beyond the men’s top prize. In the Young Men’s Player category, Flying Eagles captain Daniel Bameyi finished 10th, partly because Nigeria’s media voter, Oluwashina Okeleji, omitted him from his top five entirely.
Super Eagles goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali placed eighth in the Goalkeeper of the Year category. His coach and captain rated him number one, but Okeleji preferred Cameroon’s Andre Onana, pushing Nwabali to second on his own ballot and diminishing his overall tally.
The most contentious race was Women’s Player of the Year. Morocco’s Ghizlane Chebbak won with 223 points, beating Nigeria’s Rasheedat Ajibade (155) and Esther Okoronkwo (134). Super Falcons coach Justine Madugu voted Okoronkwo first, Ajibade second and Chebbak third. Even Morocco coach Jorge Vilda placed Ajibade ahead of Chebbak.
But Nigeria’s media representative, Samuel Ahmadu, ranked Okoronkwo third and Ajibade fifth, choosing Zambia’s Barbra Banda and Temwa Chawinga as his top two. His choices further diminished Nigeria’s challenge.
Chiamaka Nnadozie retained her Goalkeeper of the Year crown for a third straight year, yet Ahmadu again rated her fifth, in stark contrast to Coach Madugu and Ajibade who voted her number one.
In the Women’s Young Player category, Flamingos captain Shakirat Moshood finished second behind Morocco’s Doha El Madani. Ahmadu once more placed a Nigerian fifth.
Even Nigeria’s Women’s National Team of the Year award, won after their WAFCON triumph in July, was nearly undermined. Nigeria secured 106 points, narrowly ahead of Morocco’s 98. Ahmadu, however, placed Tanzania first and Nigeria fifth, the only ballot in the category to do so.
The CAF Awards may be over, but in Nigeria, the conversation is only beginning. And the biggest question is simple: why are Nigerian representatives consistently voting against Nigeria’s own brightest stars?
