Egypt’s Mohamed Salah and Mohamed Abdelmoneim have been nominated for the 2024 Lion d’Or African Footballer of the Year.
The award is presented by Moroccan newspaper Al-Mountakhab for the best African footballer for the period spanning from September 2023 to September 2024.
The Moroccan newspaper revealed a list of 10 African players who will compete in the 16th edition of the Lion d’Or, led by Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah.
Former Al Ahly and new OGC Nice signing Mohamed Abdelmonem has also made the list, which included the likes of Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz, Achraf Hakimi of PSG, and Bayer Leverkusen top scorer Victor Boniface.
Full list:
- Mohamed Salah (Egypt – Liverpool)
- Brahim Diaz (Morocco – Real Madrid)
- Victor Boniface (Nigeria – Bayer Leverkusen)
- Franck Kessié (Ivory Coast – Al Ahli)
- Ayoub El Kaabi (Morocco – Olympiacos)
- Ronwen Williams (South Africa – Sundowns)
- Ademola Lookman (Nigeria – Atalanta)
- Achraf Hakimi (Morocco – Paris Saint-Germain)
- Mohamed Abdelmonem (Egypt – Al Ahly / Nice)
- Sofiane Rahimi (Morocco – Al Ain)
Two Egyptians have won the award before, Mohamed Aboutrika in 2008 and Mohamed Salah in 2017, and the latter will surely hope to clinch it once again.
The award was halted in 2017 before returning last year in 2023 when Morocco’s goalkeeper Yassine Bounou claimed the award.
The full list of past winners comes as follows:
- 2004: Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon – Barcelona)
- 2005: Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast – Chelsea)
- 2006: Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast – Chelsea)
- 2007: Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast – Chelsea)
- 2008: Mohamed Aboutrika (Egypt – Al Ahly)
- 2009: Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon – Inter Milan)
- 2010: Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon – Inter Milan)
- 2011: Seydou Keita (Mali – Barcelona)
- 2012: Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast – Shanghai)
- 2013: Yaya Touré (Ivory Coast – Manchester City)
- 2014: Yaya Touré (Ivory Coast – Manchester City)
- 2015: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon – Dortmund)
- 2016: Riyad Mahrez (Algeria – Leicester City)
- 2017: Mohamed Salah (Egypt – Liverpool)
- 2023: Yassine Bounou (Morocco – Sevilla / Al Hilal)