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Jordi Alba and Tata Martino discuss the Ballon d’Or after Lionel Messi was not nominated on the shortlist of 30 players. (1:05)
On Monday, the great and good of world football will assemble at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris to celebrate the best of the globe’s favourite sport – and crown the men’s and women’s Ballon d’Or winners for 2024.
Only one African player – George Weah — has won the greatest individual prize in the sport, and while the continent has several nominees in the running for this year’s awards, are any of them genuine contenders?
For the first time in the six-year history of the Ballon d’Or Feminin, two African players have been nominated.
For context, in the award’s entire history, only twice has an African player been shortlisted – Bay FC‘s Asisat Oshoala in 2022 and 2023 – but this time around, the continent has two players included in the world’s top 30.
There’s no place for Oshoala, but in her stead, Orlando Pride‘s Barbra Banda and Lyon‘s Tabitha Chawinga are in the running to become Africa’s first-ever winner of the women’s award.
In truth, they’re both behind the likes of Aitana Bonmatí, Caroline Graham Hansen and Ada Hagerberg in the pecking order, even though both can look back on magnificent performances during the period in question.
Banda has scored 13 goals in 21 outings for Orlando during the calendar year, including five ‘match-winning strikes’ following her arrival from China in a deal worth £582000 ($740000), making her the second most expensive African player in history, behind fellow Zambia striker Racheal Kundananji.
A strong understanding with the iconic Brazil striker Marta has certainly helped. “It’s a dream come true to associate with her, to be together with her, she always encourages me,” Banda told BBC Sport.
“She’s a legend and a very good person with the way we interact, the way she took me as a younger sister. It’s very awesome.”
Despite Zambia’s early exit at the Olympic Games, she again proved herself to be a force of nature, scoring another hat-trick – going with the two she scored in Japan three years ago – to become the first woman in history to hit three goals in three separate matches at the tournament.
She ended the campaign with four goals, behind only fellow Ballon d’Or nominee Marie-Antoinette Katoto, again reaffirming her place among the finest women in the sport, but appears to be just behind the leading pack for the 2024 awards ceremony.
Also once of the Chinese Women’s Super League, Chawinga becomes the first ever Malawian to feature in Ballon d’Or consideration, having starred in Europe in recent years.
She was the top assist-maker and scorer in Ligue 1 Feminin last season, bagging 19 for Paris Saint-Germain while on loan from Wuhan Jianghan University, and was duly named PSG’s Player of the Season following a series of notable contributions in the Champions League.
After a move to Lyon in July, Chawinga is already beginning to write the next chapter of her career in France, even though she appears to be an outside bet for the Ballon d’Or.
Meanwhile, her sister Temwa Chawinga of the Kansas City Current will be looking forward to next year’s nominations, after this month becoming the NWSL‘s record scorer in a single season, overtaking Sam Kerr. She also became the first player to score against every NSWL opponent in a single season.
This year, only one African player has been nominated for the top individual prize in the men’s game, with Atalanta and Nigeria forward Ademola Lookman featuring among the 30-man shortlist released by FIFA at the start of September.
Lookman may not be the most prominent or high profile African player, but unlike his would-be rivals Mohamed Salah, Victor Osimhen and Mohammed Kudus, he actually collected a major honour in 2024.
Lookman was the Man of the Match as Atalanta dispatched Bayer Leverkusen – ending their record-breaking 51-game undefeated streak – in the Europa League final, delivering a stunning individual display and netting a hat-trick as the Italians won their first continental silverware.
Having been a player who struggled to find his place in the game, failing to truly realise the potential of his youth with the likes of Everton, Fulham and Leicester City, the wideman broke a series of records with a breath-taking display in a major continental showpiece.
He was the first player to score a Europa League (previously UEFA Cup) final hat-trick since 1975 and the first African player ever to score multiple goals in the final of a significant European continental competition.
“Obviously that night, let’s say I was walking on air, things were just great,” he told Sky Sports. “That night was probably my biggest achievement so far as well as playing for Nigeria, representing my country.
“It was a historical night, not just for me, but also for the club and for the city. You dream of stuff like this, achieving these special things.”
Lookman was also named as Atalanta’s Player of the Year as they finished inside the Serie A top four, and ended the campaign with 11 goals and seven assists in 31 league outings.
At international level, he also excelled at the most recent Africa Cup of Nations as Nigeria reached the final.
The Super Eagles may have fallen short against the Ivory Coast, but Lookman was magic in a vibrant forward line, in support of Osimhen, ultimately making the Team of the Tournament alongside compatriots Ola Aina and William Troost-Ekong.
Was he unlucky not to have been named Player of the Tournament? Certainly, while Troost-Ekong ultimately picked up the Golden Shoe, it was Lookman whose goals (winners in both the Last 16 and the quarterfinal) who helped the Eagles overcome an unconvincing group-stage showing to reach the latter stages.
Given all of this, he was a worthy – if somewhat surprising – inclusion in the shortlist, although don’t expect Lookman to walk away with the Ballon d’Or.
Indeed, he appears broadly – among bookies and experts, anyway – to be considered among those ‘making up the numbers’, with his odds miles behind the favourites Vinicius Jr, Rodri and Jude Bellingham.
Nonetheless, Lookman – Nigeria’s eighth Ballon d’Or nominee – appears likely to become the hot favourite to clinch the African Footballer of the Year award come the Confederation of African Football’s own ceremony in December.
Indeed, perhaps the only celebrated African men’s player to take to the stage at the Theatre du Chatelet on Monday is likely to be Didier Drogba, with the Chelsea and Cote d’Ivoire great already named as one of the event hosts.
African players, teams and head coaches aren’t well represented across the awards ceremony’s other voting categories, with none nominated for either Men’s or Women’s Club of the Year or Coach of the Year awards.
Perhaps Emerse Fae, who oversaw a remarkable reversal in form for the Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations on home soil, reviving them from almost-certain first round elimination after replacing Jean-Louis Gasset in the group stage, can feel hard done by for being overlooked.
The rookie head coach’s achievement in uniting a disparate collective, dragging them through a knockout stage gauntlet – who could forget that Mali quarterfinal!? – and then downing Nigeria in an emotional final at the Stade d’Ebimpe surely represents one of the all-time great fairytale runs in African football history.
Perhaps Africa’s best bet for silverware on the night is South Africa‘s Ronwen Williams, who has been nominated for the Yashin Trophy to crown the world’s best goalkeeper for the period in question.
Argentina‘s Emiliano Martínez may be the favourite, but Williams – who becomes the first ever Africa-based player to be nominated for the award – cannot be discounted.
He was imperious at the AFCON, enjoying familiarity with his backline in an all-Mamelodi Sundowns defensive unit, and kept five clean sheets in seven matches. He didn’t concede in open play after the opening 2-0 defeat by Mali, was Man of the Match in the quarterfinal, and proved decisive between the sticks in two penalty shootouts.
Indeed, against Cape Verde in the quarterfinal, he broke an all-time AFCON record by saving four spot kicks in a single shootout, sending Bafana Bafana through to a first semi in 20 years.
At the time of writing, with South African supporters coming out en masse, Williams currently holds over 60 percent of the fan vote according to L’Equipe… but will this influence the judges?
Finally, there’s the Kopa Trophy for the best U-21 player of the year. While there is African representation in the shortlist, in the form of AFCON winner Karim Konaté, Spain‘s European Championship hero Yamine Lamal looks like a shoo-in to clinch the prestigious prize.

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