Salah and Hakimi compete with Osimhen for the African “Balloon d’Or”.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced the final lists of nominees for the Best in the Continent Awards for the year 2025, as the nominations witnessed unprecedented dominance of Moroccan football in most categories, whether at the level of players, coaches, teams or clubs, which confirms Morocco’s current leadership in the African football arena.

The final lists witnessed the nomination of a large number of Moroccan players and coaches, most notably:

Best Player of the Year (Men): Competing for the grand prize are Moroccan star Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain), Liverpool’s Egyptian top scorer Mohamed Salah, and Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray).

Best Goalkeeper (Men): Moroccan stars Yacine Bounou (Saudi Al Hilal) and Mounir El Mohamady (Nahda Berkane) compete with South African Ronwyn Williams (Mamelodi Sundowns).

Best player on the continent (men): Morocco is represented by Mohamed El Chebbi (Pyramids) and Oussama El Melioui (Nahdet Berkane), along with Fiston Maielli (Pyramids).

Best Player (Women): The two Moroccan stars, Ghizlane El Chebbak (Al Hilal) and Sanaa Messoudi (Royal Army), are present, along with Nigerian Rashidat Ajibade (Paris Saint-Germain).

Best coach (men): The first team coach, Walid Regragui, is competing with the youth team coach (U-20), Mohamed Wehbe, in addition to Robista (Cape Verde).

Best Young Player (Women): Moroccan Doha Al Madani (Royal Army) was nominated.

Best Young Player (Men): Moroccans Abdallah Ouazzane (Ajax) and Othman Maama (Watford) were nominated.

Dominance was not limited to individuals only, but also included football institutions:

Best Club (Men): Moroccan club RS Berkane was nominated alongside Pyramids of Egypt and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa.

Best National Team (Men): The first Moroccan national team and the Moroccan U-20 national team were nominated, along with the Cape Verdean national team.

Best National Team (Women): The Moroccan team was nominated alongside Ghana and Nigeria.

Moroccan goals nominated for the most beautiful award

The list of nominees for the “Goal of the Year” award witnessed a strong presence of three Moroccan goals: Ghizlane El Chebbak’s goal (against Nigeria), Oussama El Melioui’s goal (against Madagascar), and Abdallah Ouazzane’s goals (U-17 against Tanzania).

CAF revealed earlier that the ceremony to announce the Best in Africa Awards for the year 2025 will be held next Wednesday, at 21:00 Abu Dhabi time.