African Football Discussion Thread Current Topic: 👉 AFCON 2025/2026

[Justbillywitt]

Congratulations to Achraf Hakimi for winning the African best player of the year. He won the award ahead of Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Salah. There was never any doubt about Hakimi winning the award after having a glorious season with his team PSG last season.

[Issa56]

I don't really understand what some Nigerians and the super Eagles coach is saying about DR Congo using voodoo in that match, which made them to qualify for the FIFA world cup competition for next year.

I don’t even know what to call the super eagles coach, I feel he is just looking for excuse for his loss. DR Congo didn’t use anything in the match, if they had used Vodoo, then why did they get to the stage of playing a penalty shootout? They should have just won the match easily. Also why did the DR Congo lose some penalties also, they should have scored all their penalties. It’s annoying to see our coach say things like this, since DR Congo made use of Vodoo, then he should have used it also, all we wanted from him was to make super eagles qualify for the World Cup, but he couldn’t achieve that for us.

[snipie]

Congratulations to Achraf Hakimi for winning the African best player of the year. He won the award ahead of Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Salah. There was never any doubt about Hakimi winning the award after having a glorious season with his team PSG last season.

Yeah I saw that news earlier and it was expected. There are many top players in Africa, mainly among Super Eagles, namely Osimhen, but also Egypt, Mohamed Salah, and of course Hakimi from Morocco.
What made Hakimi better than the other two players is the UEFA Champions League trophy, and obviously the other domestic titles. Mohamed Salah won with Liverpool Premier League, yet it is less than Champions League, same for Osimhen, being the best player in Turkiye and playing in the team that won the title there wouldn't guarantee that. Congratulations to Hakimi and best luck for the others.

[Roseline492]

I don’t even know what to call the super eagles coach, I feel he is just looking for excuse for his loss. DR Congo didn’t use anything in the match, if they had used Vodoo, then why did they get to the stage of playing a penalty shootout? They should have just won the match easily. Also why did the DR Congo lose some penalties also, they should have scored all their penalties. It’s annoying to see our coach say things like this, since DR Congo made use of Vodoo, then he should have used it also, all we wanted from him was to make super eagles qualify for the World Cup, but he couldn’t achieve that for us.

His changes caused half of there losing, Victor Osimhem was substituted very early on the 46 minutes and our forward became porous, if Osimhen was on throughout the 90 minutes he would have done as before, substitute should be done with cautious to avert disorganizing what was working for the team, super eagles had something managing but after the touch it became unmanageable. All the substitute Gabon coach was doing was to remove the exhausted ones and implants vibrant players, he made amendments from there and  when the penalty was close but super eagles coach initiative was too poor against the penalty.

[Tonimez]

Congratulations to Achraf Hakimi for winning the African best player of the year. He won the award ahead of Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Salah. There was never any doubt about Hakimi winning the award after having a glorious season with his team PSG last season.

This is indeed a well deserved award for the Morocco international. He had a very nice season and deserved to win. I would say that this award have been maintaining near integrity so far even though many would suppose that Victor Osimhen would win it. But based on club and international achievements, Hakimi remains the best option and has won.

Nnadozie chiamaka of the super falcons have won best keeper for the third time now so far. She is really good in her act. A raw talent who led Nigeria to their mission X WAFCON and still won the golden glove during the tournament. Congratulations to her indeed and many other winners in the award night. Super Falcons is making Nigeria and Africa Proud throughout the world breaking bounds and setting standards and creating histories.

[Stepstowealth]

Congratulations to Achraf Hakimi for winning the African best player of the year. He won the award ahead of Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Salah. There was never any doubt about Hakimi winning the award after having a glorious season with his team PSG last season.

I watched Hakimi play for PSG in very important games, and he was one of their key players, not just the defender to stop attack, but a defender that takes the attack to the opposition. This is a well won and deserved award to Hakimi for his performance from last season, but this season, he is not going to be able to defend it, I feel it will likely be Victor Osimhen who will claim it again with the number of goals he is scoring for Galatasaray.

Hakimi is injured at the moment for PSG after their last game against Bayern, he will miss the rest of this year, and hope to recover next year in time for the AFCON. It will be nice to see him play in the competition.

[Spaceman1000$]

Congratulations to Achraf Hakimi for winning the African best player of the year. He won the award ahead of Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Salah. There was never any doubt about Hakimi winning the award after having a glorious season with his team PSG last season.

Some of us have already invisage before now that Achraf Hakimi is likely going to win the African player of the year, due to the fact that he won the champions League and the French ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain. But then this also brings me to the reflection of how African leagues and trophies are worthless, African players are judged by European performance for them to be given an African award, this doesn't make sense, for how long are we going to continue on this trajectory.

[Futurexxx]

Congratulations to Achraf Hakimi for winning the African best player of the year. He won the award ahead of Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Salah. There was never any doubt about Hakimi winning the award after having a glorious season with his team PSG last season.

Some of us have already invisage before now that Achraf Hakimi is likely going to win the African player of the year, due to the fact that he won the champions League and the French ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain. But then this also brings me to the reflection of how African leagues and trophies are worthless, African players are judged by European performance for them to be given an African award, this doesn't make sense, for how long are we going to continue on this trajectory.

If you are feeling this way, then I wishes to ask you, who do you think that deserves it more than the final three players that was short listed?
Because to the best of my knowledge, these three players achraf hakimi, victor osimhen and Mohamed Salah achieve nothing on African football alone last year, so it is logical to judge them with their performance with their respective clubs side and the numbers of trophies they won.

If any of mo Salah or victor osimhen had won the African nations cup, and they were deprived from winning the award, I would have understood your sentiment, but neither of these three players won any African important trophies, so giving the award to achraf hakimi is the ideal choice because he deserves it.

[Jessie2121]

Congratulations to Achraf Hakimi for winning the African best player of the year. He won the award ahead of Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Salah. There was never any doubt about Hakimi winning the award after having a glorious season with his team PSG last season.

He deserves this award after a remarkable display last season with his club PSG, who would have thought they were the ones to win the champions league which he also made a good account of him self with the contribution he gave to the club. What seems to surprise me is having Mo Salah on the mix, like does he have to be there in the first place? This season has been his worse I have ever seen and last season he won the EPL title but it wasn't enough to have him on the list, maybe he was added because there was no one to make it the 3rd man, who knows?

[yixichloro2xx]

Congratulations to Achraf Hakimi for winning the African best player of the year. He won the award ahead of Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Salah. There was never any doubt about Hakimi winning the award after having a glorious season with his team PSG last season.

Yeah I saw that news earlier and it was expected. There are many top players in Africa, mainly among Super Eagles, namely Osimhen, but also Egypt, Mohamed Salah, and of course Hakimi from Morocco.
What made Hakimi better than the other two players is the UEFA Champions League trophy, and obviously the other domestic titles. Mohamed Salah won with Liverpool Premier League, yet it is less than Champions League, same for Osimhen, being the best player in Turkiye and playing in the team that won the title there wouldn't guarantee that. Congratulations to Hakimi and best luck for the others.

Congratulations to him, truly deserved based on his achievements last season compared what is other two opponents has.  But I still feel that caf should find possible ways to make this award bigger like ballon d'or so that Africa players would take it more seriously rather than seeing it as a mere award.  Africa awarding system is still poor to me, it needs good recognition and supports.

[Spaceman1000$]

Congratulations to Achraf Hakimi for winning the African best player of the year. He won the award ahead of Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Salah. There was never any doubt about Hakimi winning the award after having a glorious season with his team PSG last season.

Some of us have already invisage before now that Achraf Hakimi is likely going to win the African player of the year, due to the fact that he won the champions League and the French ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain. But then this also brings me to the reflection of how African leagues and trophies are worthless, African players are judged by European performance for them to be given an African award, this doesn't make sense, for how long are we going to continue on this trajectory.

If you are feeling this way, then I wishes to ask you, who do you think that deserves it more than the final three players that was short listed?
Because to the best of my knowledge, these three players achraf hakimi, victor osimhen and Mohamed Salah achieve nothing on African football alone last year, so it is logical to judge them with their performance with their respective clubs side and the numbers of trophies they won.

If any of mo Salah or victor osimhen had won the African nations cup, and they were deprived from winning the award, I would have understood your sentiment, but neither of these three players won any African important trophies, so giving the award to achraf hakimi is the ideal choice because he deserves it.

You obviously didn't read my assertion, I am vehemently referring to the fact that African awards that are supposed to look towards achievement of players within the African region, for instance players that have won the CAF champions league, their domestic League and the rest of it, might as well qualify to win some of this awards but for the last decades, it is only on European preference performance are players selected to win this prestigious award, so what then now happens to the local League and the local CAF champions League that they play, when players cannot be recognized even after achieving a milestone in the African setting. This is not about the three players who is the best to have won the award, but I'm saying the judgment is basically on European performance for an African award.

[Frankolala]

Congratulations to Achraf Hakimi for winning the African best player of the year. He won the award ahead of Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Salah. There was never any doubt about Hakimi winning the award after having a glorious season with his team PSG last season.

He deserves it more than the others. Hakimi was the goal opener against Italy in the finals. His goal early goal on the 12th minutes gave his teammates more confidence to dominate the game. It's not easy to score in a final as a defender. A champion will always win more awards. Let him enjoy his glory while it last because, we might see a new player as African best footballer next year.

[Rgram]

I don't really understand what some Nigerians and the super Eagles coach is saying about DR Congo using voodoo in that match, which made them to qualify for the FIFA world cup competition for next year.

I don’t even know what to call the super eagles coach, I feel he is just looking for excuse for his loss. DR Congo didn’t use anything in the match, if they had used Vodoo, then why did they get to the stage of playing a penalty shootout? They should have just won the match easily. Also why did the DR Congo lose some penalties also, they should have scored all their penalties. It’s annoying to see our coach say things like this, since DR Congo made use of Vodoo, then he should have used it also, all we wanted from him was to make super eagles qualify for the World Cup, but he couldn’t achieve that for us.

That was honestly a funny excuse, seriously. Maybe DR Congo player was doing some funny things on the sidelines to make it look like black magic, but I don’t think any of that actually works.

The truth is simple, DR Congo were just the better team. If the Super Eagles had played well, there wouldn’t even be any talk about voodoo or no voodoo.

It’s just embarrassing that with all the big names in the Super Eagles squad, they still couldn’t beat a DR Congo team filled with players most people don’t even know. Instead of giving excuses, the coach should accept that he failed to qualify the team for the World Cup and focus on the real issue.

[Princess Leah]

If you are feeling this way, then I wishes to ask you, who do you think that deserves it more than the final three players that was short listed?
Because to the best of my knowledge, these three players achraf hakimi, victor osimhen and Mohamed Salah achieve nothing on African football alone last year, so it is logical to judge them with their performance with their respective clubs side and the numbers of trophies they won.

If any of mo Salah or victor osimhen had won the African nations cup, and they were deprived from winning the award, I would have understood your sentiment, but neither of these three players won any African important trophies, so giving the award to achraf hakimi is the ideal choice because he deserves it.

You obviously didn't read my assertion, I am vehemently referring to the fact that African awards that are supposed to look towards achievement of players within the African region, for instance players that have won the CAF champions league, their domestic League and the rest of it, might as well qualify to win some of this awards but for the last decades, it is only on European preference performance are players selected to win this prestigious award, so what then now happens to the local League and the local CAF champions League that they play, when players cannot be recognized even after achieving a milestone in the African setting. This is not about the three players who is the best to have won the award, but I'm saying the judgment is basically on European performance for an African award.

I totally understand your point and it makes lots of sense but then the organisers of the CAF awards knows best on why they choose to honour African players in diaspora than those who play for clubs within Africa. Also representing international is not easy, you can tell that not all players  make it to that level and get recognised like the likes of Hakimi. Victor Osimhen and Salah moreover they also represent their countries in the CAF competition too so the award is not basically on the achievements of players playing in Europe.

 Anyways it was well deserving, Hakimi has put lots of effort to get this far, he represented both country and club side very well and I love the organisers decision. Maybe an award for players in African local leagues should be created and any player in that level that wants to be recognised and try to win the CAF should work hard enough like Hakimi and his likes to merit it too.

[Futurexxx]

Congratulations to Achraf Hakimi for winning the African best player of the year. He won the award ahead of Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Salah. There was never any doubt about Hakimi winning the award after having a glorious season with his team PSG last season.

Some of us have already invisage before now that Achraf Hakimi is likely going to win the African player of the year, due to the fact that he won the champions League and the French ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain. But then this also brings me to the reflection of how African leagues and trophies are worthless, African players are judged by European performance for them to be given an African award, this doesn't make sense, for how long are we going to continue on this trajectory.

If you are feeling this way, then I wishes to ask you, who do you think that deserves it more than the final three players that was short listed?
Because to the best of my knowledge, these three players achraf hakimi, victor osimhen and Mohamed Salah achieve nothing on African football alone last year, so it is logical to judge them with their performance with their respective clubs side and the numbers of trophies they won.

If any of mo Salah or victor osimhen had won the African nations cup, and they were deprived from winning the award, I would have understood your sentiment, but neither of these three players won any African important trophies, so giving the award to achraf hakimi is the ideal choice because he deserves it.

You obviously didn't read my assertion, I am vehemently referring to the fact that African awards that are supposed to look towards achievement of players within the African region, for instance players that have won the CAF champions league, their domestic League and the rest of it, might as well qualify to win some of this awards but for the last decades, it is only on European preference performance are players selected to win this prestigious award, so what then now happens to the local League and the local CAF champions League that they play, when players cannot be recognized even after achieving a milestone in the African setting. This is not about the three players who is the best to have won the award, but I'm saying the judgment is basically on European performance for an African award.

Ok I get you clearly now, but to be honest here, which player in the past ten years that plays in the shores of Africa that you thought that deserves it but didn't won it?
Because to the best of my knowledge, almost all the top quality players are being sold to top European teams, the ones that are here are quite good no doubt, but they are still short in quality to those that are playing in Europe.
I believe that if they are good, regardless of where they are playing your football, you will win the award, let's not forget that abuotrika won it with Al Ahly of Egypt, so if any of them is actually good, they wouldn't even stay long in the shores of Africa before a top European teams comes to price them away.

[Rgram]

Congratulations to Achraf Hakimi for winning the African best player of the year. He won the award ahead of Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Salah. There was never any doubt about Hakimi winning the award after having a glorious season with his team PSG last season.

He deserves it more than the others. Hakimi was the goal opener against Italy in the finals. His goal early goal on the 12th minutes gave his teammates more confidence to dominate the game. It's not easy to score in a final as a defender. A champion will always win more awards. Let him enjoy his glory while it last because, we might see a new player as African best footballer next year.

I’m happy for him, he earned it with the level he performed at throughout last season. But for me, CAF really needs to step up and turn this award into something that carries real weight, something players across Africa will look forward to with pride. The whole setup still feels too small, like it hasn’t reached the level it should, and that’s why it doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

What even made it more obvious this year is how low the hype was. The excitement wasn’t anywhere near what we had last year. Everything felt too quiet. The organisers should have done a much better job creating that atmosphere and making people truly anticipate the event.

[Xackie]

Congratulations to Achraf Hakimi for winning the African best player of the year. He won the award ahead of Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Salah. There was never any doubt about Hakimi winning the award after having a glorious season with his team PSG last season.

Yeah I saw that news earlier and it was expected. There are many top players in Africa, mainly among Super Eagles, namely Osimhen, but also Egypt, Mohamed Salah, and of course Hakimi from Morocco.
What made Hakimi better than the other two players is the UEFA Champions League trophy, and obviously the other domestic titles. Mohamed Salah won with Liverpool Premier League, yet it is less than Champions League, same for Osimhen, being the best player in Turkiye and playing in the team that won the title there wouldn't guarantee that. Congratulations to Hakimi and best luck for the others.

Congratulations to him, truly deserved based on his achievements last season compared what is other two opponents has.  But I still feel that caf should find possible ways to make this award bigger like ballon d'or so that Africa players would take it more seriously rather than seeing it as a mere award.  Africa awarding system is still poor to me, it needs good recognition and supports.

Hakimi did deserved the award, but you make a fair point about CAF’s award structure. The problem isnot the players is the platform. Until CAF builds a more consistent voting system, stronger media presence, and better promotion, the award won’t feel as prestigious as the Ballon d’Or. Improving recognition would help African players take the award more seriously and give the continent’s football achievements the attention they deserve.

[Callido]

Abeg look for another country to support and not DrC. They are like Nigeria who will left the scene at the group stage if they finally qualify in the World Cup. Countries like Morocco, Algeria and Ivory Coast are good to support. I put my full hope on Nigeria team to beat Dr Congo and I placed a bet with 4k and Super Eagles cut my slip. Tah they will not see my support again until I see a good Coach with standard team mates. Super Eagles didn't only cut my slip but also disappointed me for not qualifying in the World Cup. And one thing is that I didn't blame the Coach because he came at the deadline.
If he came at the beginning of the WCQ, things would have been better. Finidi killed the Team before he came.

I meant my support in the Intercontinental Playoff and not the actual World Cup competition. Going to compete with five other countries, the best we can do is to give them the support as Africans, we also had the opportunity of being the ones competing for the qualifiers but we blew the opportunity and have to carry the pain.

We will all be patriotic at the end, even if we claim to be dissatisfied, if next round of qualifiers begin, everybody as long a lover of the sport, you don't pick when to show interest, it is natural. We can't tell if things are getting better from here onwards with the coach and players in preparation for the AFCON, all the best in the next competition.

[Promocodeudo]

His changes caused half of there losing, Victor Osimhem was substituted very early on the 46 minutes and our forward became porous, if Osimhen was on throughout the 90 minutes he would have done as before, substitute should be done with cautious to avert disorganizing what was working for the team, super eagles had something managing but after the touch it became unmanageable. All the substitute Gabon coach was doing was to remove the exhausted ones and implants vibrant players, he made amendments from there and  when the penalty was close but super eagles coach initiative was too poor against the penalty.

Although I understand that there changes made by the manager that can cause a team winning but we should also understand that the match involved here is world cup qualifiers and despite how important that match was to our country, Osimhen have a club to fall back to and I also believe that something prompted that early substitutions, this is more reason both national teams or club football team should not by any way put there hope on only 1 player that could be disastrous, that's to say, if anything happens to to that player midmatch or half way, the team involved won't get goals or something, I don't want blame anyone now but Nigeria super eagles performance was nothing to write home about.

[Gentle_Soul]

Congratulations to Achraf Hakimi for winning the African best player of the year. He won the award ahead of Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Salah. There was never any doubt about Hakimi winning the award after having a glorious season with his team PSG last season.

Achraf harkimi's impact and performance in the season with Paris saint German and probably winning the champions league all contributed to his win probably. As the captain of Moroccan team and ensuring that team goes through to the world cup qualifiers is also a prove of his hard work. It is not undermeaning to say that he has stood out enough to attain this position of the player of the year because I know that osimen and others on the other end also put in his best to be on the list and still standing.