Hakimi received the award from Gianni Infantino, President of the International Football Association “FIFA”, and Patrice Motsepe, President of the African Union, during the “CAF” awards ceremony held on Wednesday evening in the Moroccan city of Rabat.
With this, Hakimi has won the Best in Africa award for the first time in his career, surpassing Egyptian Mohamed Salah, Liverpool star, and Nigerian Victor Osimhen, Galatasaray striker, who were also nominated for the award.
Upon receiving the award, the Paris Saint-Germain star said: “It is a great honor for me to win this great award. This award is not only for me, but for all Moroccan and African children who dream of playing football.”
He added: “There are people who believed in me every day since my childhood and helped me to be here. I thank them now. I thank His Majesty the King who paved the way for us and provided us with all the possibilities, and we are proud of what he has provided us. I thank my president Nasser Al-Khelaifi for his trust in me since day one, 5 years ago, and I thank my colleagues and coaches in Saint-Germain, because they helped me, and I am developing with their help as a player and as a person.”
He continued: “I thank Fouzi Lekjaa, who provided us with the best conditions. I am proud that he is the president of the Moroccan Federation. We will try to give everything to achieve the most important cup, the African Cup. I must also thank my coach Walid Regragui, as I thank my colleagues in the national team, and I congratulate Bono on the award for best goalkeeper, I thank my family, my agent and everyone who helped me.”
Hakimi’s winning this award comes after he won the Champions League title this year, in addition to the European Super Cup, the French League and the French Cup titles, in addition to his team finishing as runner-up in the Club World Cup.
The right-back also contributed to his country, Morocco, qualifying for the 2026 World Cup finals.
On the other hand, Moroccan Ghizlane Chebbak, who plays for Al-Hilal, won the award for best player in the Black Continent.
In addition, Bubista, coach of the Cape Verde national team, won the award for best coach in Africa during the same ceremony.
What happened at the CAF Awards 2025?
Hakimi after receiving the award: “It is a great honor for me to win this great award. This award is not only for me, but for all Moroccan and African children who dream of playing football.”
Hakimi: “There are people who believed in me every day since my childhood and helped me to be here. I thank them now. I thank His Majesty the King who paved the way for us and provided us with all the possibilities, and we are proud of what he has provided us. I thank my president Nasser Al-Khelaifi for his trust in me since day one, 5 years ago, and I thank my colleagues and coaches in Saint-Germain, because they helped me, and I am developing with their help as a player and as a person.”
Hakimi: “I thank Fouzi Lekjaa, who provided us with the best conditions. I am proud that he is the president of the Moroccan Federation. We will try to give everything to achieve the most important cup, the African Cup. I must also thank my coach Walid Regragui, as I thank my colleagues in the national team, and I congratulate Bono on the award for best goalkeeper, I thank my family, my agent and everyone who helped me.”
Infantino and Motsepe announce the Best Player in Africa Award: “Achraf Hakimi.”
Award for Best Player in Africa: Moroccan Ghizlane Chebbak (Al-Hilal Club).
Gianni Infantino (President of the International Federation): “I am at home here (Morocco), I am in the home of the Under-20 world champions.”
Patrice Motsepe (President of the African Union): “One day the World Cup champion will be from Africa.”
Best Men’s Coach: Bubista (Coach of the Cape Verde national team).
Patrice Kameni and Essam El-Hadary announce the Best Goalkeeper Award: Moroccan Yassine Bono (Saudi Al-Hilal).
Best Goalkeeper: Nigerian Chiamaka Nnadozie (Brighton).
Best Player Inside Africa: Fiston Mayele (Pyramids).
Mamdouh Eid (President of Pyramids) after receiving the award: “Achieving this achievement is exceptional after the hard work that continued throughout the past period. I want to thank all the players, the coach, the administration staff, and everyone who supported us in Egypt to reach this goal. I also thank the opponents who pushed us to present this level.”
Best Men’s Club Award: Pyramids.
Best Men’s National Team Award: Morocco Youth Team Under 20.
Best Women’s National Team Award: Nigeria National Team.
Best Young Player Award: Moroccan Othman Maama (Watford).
Best Young Player Award: Moroccan Doha Al-Madani (Royal Army).
Winner of the Best Referee Award (Men’s Category): Somali Omar Artan.
Winner of the Best Referee Award (Women’s Category): Ugandan Samira Nabada.
Fouzi Lekjaa (President of the Moroccan Federation) in his speech: “The progress that African football is achieving is due to trust and belief in youth, and listening to them.”
Asamoah Gyan and Manucho announce the winner of the Goal of the Year Award: Clement Mzize (Young Africans) against Mazembe in the African Champions League.
Beginning of the ceremony.
Patrice Motsepe (President of the African Union) minutes before the start of the ceremony: “Everyone is proud of this event, because African football is now being compared to the best in the world. Morocco won the Under-20 World Cup, the level of African football has reached a high level.”
Hakimi arrives in a wheelchair with his mother.
The arrival of attendees begins.
Who wins these awards?
Side of the preparations.
What are the awards for the ceremony?
The African Union presented a number of awards to honor its distinguished members at all levels during the current year. These awards include:
* Best African Player
* Best African Player
* Best African Goalkeeper
* Best African Goalkeeper
* Best Player Inside Africa
* Best Men’s Coach
* Best Rising African Player
* Best Rising African Player
* Best Men’s Club
* Best Men’s National Team
* Best Women’s National Team
* Goal of the Year
Due to the continuation of the African Women’s Champions League in Egypt, the winners of the awards for Best Coach, Best Player inside the continent, and Best Women’s Club will be announced at a later time.
Who is attending the ceremony?
The “CAF Awards” 2025 ceremony witnessed the presence of a large number of African football legends, with prominent names such as: Mustafa Haji, Gervinho, Rabah Majer, Mohamed Sissoko, Idriss Kameni, Shikabala, Patrick Mboma and Taribo West.
Female football legends were also present, including: Janine van Wyk, Desire Oparanozie, Clementine Touré and Bernadette Anong.
The ceremony was presented by Beninese artist Angélique Kidjo and Moroccan artist Walas, and there was an exceptional artistic program during the ceremony, performed by 3 of the most famous artists: Douaa Lahyaoui, Awilo Longomba, and Fuse ODG.
Nominees for the CAF Awards 2025
The African Football Confederation “CAF” had previously announced the shortlists of nominees in all the awards.
Best Player
Three stars are competing for the title of Best African Player, namely: Moroccan Achraf Hakimi, Paris Saint-Germain star, Egyptian Mohamed Salah, Liverpool star, and Nigerian Victor Osimhen, Galatasaray star.
Hakimi won the Champions League title with Paris Saint-Germain this year, in addition to the European Super Cup, the French League and the French Cup titles, in addition to his team finishing as runner-up in the Club World Cup, and he also led the Moroccan national team to the 2026 World Cup finals.
Salah succeeded in leading Liverpool to win the English Premier League title, in addition to winning the title of Best Player in the Premier League, winning the title of top scorer in the league, and the best maker of goals, and he also led the Egyptian national team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
Salah continued his brilliance by scoring 29 goals and providing 18 assists in 38 matches, for a total of 47 goal contributions.
For his part, Osimhen gave a wonderful performance, and led Galatasaray to win the Turkish League title, where he scored 37 goals in 41 matches during the 2024/2025 season, and maintained his high level at the beginning of the new season.
Best Player Inside Africa
In the Best Player inside the Continent award, Pyramids duo, Congolese Fiston Mayele and Moroccan Mohamed Chibi, were nominated, in addition to Oussama El-Melioui, striker of Renaissance Berkane of Morocco.
Chibi and Mayele led the Pyramids team to win the African Champions League title for the first time in the club’s history, in addition to the African Super Cup and the Three Continents Cup.
El-Melioui shone in the African Nations Championship, in addition to winning the African Confederation Cup and the Moroccan League title with Renaissance Berkane.
Best Goalkeeper
In goalkeeping, there is a Moroccan competition between Yassine Bono, goalkeeper of Saudi Al-Hilal, and Munir Al-Muhammadi, goalkeeper of Renaissance Berkane of Morocco, in addition to South African Ronwen Williams, goalkeeper of his country’s national team and Mamelodi Sundowns.
Bono showed great levels in the Club World Cup with Al-Hilal, and impressed everyone with his wonderful saves, and Williams also appeared at good levels with Sundowns, while Al-Muhammadi excelled in leading Renaissance Berkane to win the African Confederation Cup and the Moroccan League title.
In contrast, Senegalese Edouard Mendy was excluded from the nominations despite winning the Asian Champions League title with Saudi Al-Ahly, and Egyptian Ahmed El-Shenawy despite winning the African Champions League and the Continental Super Cup titles with Pyramids.
Best Coach
CAF has nominated 3 names to win the Best Coach Award, namely: Moroccan Walid Regragui, coach of his country’s national team, his compatriot Mohamed Wahbi, coach of the Moroccan national team under 20 years, in addition to Bubista, coach of the Cape Verde national team.
Bubista led the Cape Verde national team to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in its history, and Wahbi also achieved the Youth World Cup title with Morocco, as the first Arab team to achieve this title.
Regragui maintained a wonderful record of victories with the Moroccan national team, and presented wonderful levels with the Atlas Lions.
Best Rising Player
In the race for the best rising player, the Moroccan star Othman Maama, the winner of the Under-20 World Cup title with his country’s national team, and the star of the English team Watford, was nominated.
Othman Maama competes with Abdullah Wazzan, star of Dutch Ajax and the Moroccan national team, in addition to South African Taylon Smith, player of English Queens Park Rangers.
Best National Team
Three teams are competing to win the Best in Africa award this year, led by the Moroccan youth team, which won the Under-20 World Cup title, which was held in Chile.
The Moroccan youth team competes with the Moroccan first team, which qualified for the 2026 World Cup after a wonderful performance and distinguished levels.
The Cape Verde national team, which qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in its history, was also nominated, in a historic achievement at the expense of a long-standing competitor, Cameroon.
Best Club
The list included 3 of the most prominent clubs that presented exceptional performances locally and continentally during the past season, namely: South African Mamelodi Sundowns, Egyptian Pyramids, and Moroccan Renaissance Berkane.
Egyptian Pyramids is the most prominent candidate to win the award after winning the African Champions League and the Continental Super Cup titles, in addition to the Three Continents title, to prove its place among the giants of the Black Continent.
Sundowns is also one of the most prominent candidates, after continuing its dominance over local championships in South Africa, in addition to reaching the Champions League final.
Moroccan Renaissance Berkane enters the competition, after an exceptional season in which it won the Confederation Cup title, in addition to strong continental and local performances that made it one of the most prominent clubs in North Africa in recent years.
Best Goal
13 goals scored in continental competitions this year are competing for the “Best Goal” award within the “CAF” awards 2025, provided that the award is decided by a public vote, which took place between November 6 and 12.
The shortlist for the “CAF” Best Goal 2025 award includes goals from: Abdullah Wazzan (Morocco) against Tanzania in the African Under-17 Cup of Nations, Anas Rushdi (Egypt) against South Africa in the same tournament, Ashraf Tabsouba (Burkina Faso) against Cameroon in the same tournament, Barbara Banda (Zambia) against Morocco in the African Women’s Cup of Nations, and Calvin Feli (Madagascar) against Morocco in the African Nations Championship.
The list also includes the goals of Clement Mzize (Young Africans) against Mazembe in the African Champions League, Ghizlane Chebbak (Morocco) against Nigeria in the African Women’s Cup of Nations, and Ibrahim Adel (Pyramids) against Esperance Sportive de Tunis in the Champions League.
The list also includes goals from Jean Claude Jeromegisha (Al-Hilal of Sudan) against Mouloudia Algeria in the African Champions League, Ndabayithethwa Ndlandlo (South Africa) against Uganda in the African Nations Championship, Oussama Lamlioui (Morocco) against Madagascar in the same tournament, in addition to Refilo Jane (South Africa) against Mali in the African Women’s Cup of Nations, and Sufian Baized (Algeria) against Uganda in the African Nations Championship.
Best Player Award
The final list for the Best African Player award is topped by Moroccans Ghizlane Chebbak (Al-Hilal Club), Sanaa Masoudi (Royal Army Club) and Nigerian Rashidat Ajibade (Paris Saint-Germain), who gave outstanding performances with clubs and national teams throughout the season.
Best Goalkeeper
Three goalkeepers have been nominated in the Best Goalkeeper Award category: Khadija Al-Rumaishi (Morocco/Royal Army Club), Chiamaka Nnadozie (Nigeria/Brighton & Hove Albion), and Andile Dlamini (South Africa/Mamelodi Sundowns).
Best Women’s Coach
The final list for the Best Coach in Women’s Football award includes: Jorge Vilda (Morocco), Lamia Boumehdi (Morocco/TP Mazembe Club), and Desiree Ellis (South Africa).
Best Rising Player
Doha Al-Madani (Morocco/Royal Army Club), Adji Ndiaye (Senegal/Bambi Club), and Shakirat Obidi Moussehoud (Nigeria/Bayelsa Queens Club) are competing for the Best Rising Player award.
Best Women’s Team
The trio: Ghana, Morocco, and Nigeria, are competing for the Best African Women’s Team award this year.
