Hakimi, Bono, Regragui, “Atlas Lions”… Towards Moroccan dominance at the Confederation of African Football awards ceremony?

Published in: 11/12/2023 – 10:39

5 minutes

“Africa’s most revered sporting awards will receive an exquisite combination of elegance, power, royalty and success to celebrate the best of the continent!”, with these words, the Confederation of African Football presented Great annual show, Which will take place on Monday evening at the Congress Palace in Marrakesh, in the presence of a large crowd of former legends in the game, including Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o, Egyptian Ahmed Hassan, and Moroccan Mustafa El Haddawi.

Ahead of this prominent continental sporting event, the movement of people and tourists alike has increased in the streets of the charming Moroccan city, as it seeks to refute the scenes of horror it experienced last September as a result of the earthquake that struck it, leaving nearly 3,000 dead. Preparations were in full swing when we visited the Palace of Conferences on Sunday afternoon, amid the curiosity of passers-by and their pride in hosting the continent for an occasion that would be dominated by local representation more than ever before.

The various competition categories at the CAF Awards 2023 witnessed a strong Moroccan presence, both among men and women. The winner will be chosen from each category after a vote by a committee composed of technicians and technical experts of the federation, former African stars, and representatives from the media, taking into account the performance of the competitors over a year between November 2022 and September 2023 for men, and from December. 2022 to November 2023 for women.

Are they the biggest “threat” to Achraf Hakimi?

The struggle for the most important awards (for the best player on the African continent) will receive special attention from fans of African football, as it will undoubtedly be confined between Moroccan Achraf Hakimi and Nigerian Victor Osimhen, while Mohamed Salah seems far from the race due to the absence of any title on his record during the past year. The final list announced on Thursday included this trio, with Moroccan Yassine Bounou nominated to win the best goalkeeper award.

The question is: Will Hakimi, the French League champion with Paris Saint-Germain and one of the symbols of the Atlas Lions’ brilliance in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where he reached the semi-finals in a historic first for an African team, be able to contain the ambition of Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen? The latter performed a wonderful season with his club, Napoli, as he led them to win the league title for the first time since 1990 and topped the list of Serie A’s top scorers. Will the committee choose Hakimi even though Osimhen ranked eighth in the Ballon d’Or race (and Salah ranked 11th) while the Paris Saint-Germain defender was not even in the top thirty list?

The road is open for Bono and Regragui…

On the other hand, Yassine Bounou is expected to win the Best Goalkeeper award, and Walid Regragui, the maker of the Qatar 2022 epic, is expected to win the Undisputed Best Coach award. Bono excelled with the Moroccan national team, helping to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup, especially during the eighth-final against Spain and then in the quarter-finals against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal. He also shined with his former team, Sevilla, with whom he won the Europa League title, before moving to the Saudi club Al-Hilal, where he won the best goalkeeper award for the months of October and November. This year, he became the highest-ranked African goalkeeper in the history of the Ballon d’Or, ranking 13th.

Thus, the battle has been decided against Cameroonian Andre Onana, who gave a distinguished performance with the Italian club Inter, with whom he reached the Champions League final and lost to Manchester City. And in front of the Egyptian goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy, who led Al-Ahly to the CAF Champions League crown, and was the goalkeeper who kept the most clean sheets in the continental competition (six matches).

For his part, Walid Regragui appears to be without a competitor in the coaches category, despite the presence of Algerian Abdelhak Ben Sheikha in the final list, thanks to his tactical skill and strength of personality. Regragui led the Atlas Lions to the semi-finals of the Qatar World Cup, and in a short time he was able to form a cohesive team that exceeded the expectations of all observers. Facing him will be Ben Sheikha, who managed to lead Algeria to win its first continental title, the African Confederation Cup, and then led it to win the African Super Cup against Al-Ahly. Bin Sheikha then joined the Tanzanian club Simba. As for Senegalese coach Aliou Cisse, winner of the CAF Award for Best Coach in 2022, he seems out of the ordinary.

“Atlas Lions” without a doubt

The Moroccan national team will be in a strong position in the “2023 National Team” category against Senegal and Gambia, due to its heroic performance in the Qatar World Cup. For its part, the Moroccan women’s national team will struggle to win the award against Nigeria and South Africa. The Best Female Player award may go to Nigerian Asisat Oshoala, a FC Barcelona player.

FRANCE 24 delegate to Marrakesh, Alloua Meziani