• The 2024 instalment of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) prestigious annual awards is on the horizon
• Several players, including Nigeria’s Ademola Lookman, among others, are expected to be present at the ceremony
• A recent report detailing that CAF has announced a location for the 2024 edition of the prestigious award ceremony has surfaced

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has officially announced that the 2024 edition of the CAF Awards will be held in Morocco.

The prestigious ceremony, which regularly features some of Africa’s footballing elite, is scheduled to take place in the vibrant city of Marrakech.

According to a report from Africa Soccer, this marks the third consecutive year that Morocco will host the event, further solidifying the country’s growing influence in African football.

Recently, Morocco was also chosen to host the CAF Women’s Champions League, underlining its expanding role in the continent’s football scene.

The CAF Awards are set for December 16, with final details of the event expected to be released soon.

In addition to hosting this prestigious event, Morocco has also launched a joint bid for the 2030 FIFA World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal, signalling its ambition to become a central hub for major CAF and international football events.

2023 CAF Award winners

The 2023 CAF Awards were headlined by Nigerian stars Victor Osimhen and Asisat Oshoala, who took home the honours for Best Player in the men’s and women’s categories, respectively.

According to Vanguard News, Morocco’s Walid Regragui was named CAF’s Best Coach of the Year in the men’s category, while South Africa’s Desiree Ellis won the Best Coach award in the women’s category.

Senegal’s Lamine Camara secured the CAF Young Player of the Year award, and Moroccan talent Nesryne El Chad claimed the inaugural CAF Women’s Young Player of the Year title.

Looking ahead, the 2024 edition is expected to see new faces take the spotlight, with Nigeria’s Ademola Lookman tipped as a strong contender for the Men’s Player of the Year award.

Adebayor tips Guirassy for CAF Award

Ekwutosblog earlier reported that Togolese legend, Emmanuel Adebayor, tipped Guinean striker Serhou Guirassy to win the 2024 CAF Player of the Year Award.

The former Arsenal forward believes Guirassy is the most deserving candidate for the prestigious accolade. The France-born striker secured second place in the Bundesliga Golden Boot race, narrowly trailing behind the prolific Harry Kane.

Thomas Tuchel is set to be confirmed as the next permanent England manager and will lead the Three Lions into the 2026 World Cup.

One of football’s biggest jobs, the role has been vacant since Gareth Southgate stepped down after England lost the Euro 2024 final to Spain, with England under-21 manager Lee Carsley stepping up on interim basis for two international breaks, but ultimately not doing enough to make the job his.

Tuchel already has his favourites when it comes to English players, having managed Chelsea and signed a few while at Bayern Munich. We’ve taken a look at the 16 Englishmen who the German has already managed, in a bid to try and understand who his favourites might be.

16. Lewis Baker – 1 appearance

Baker’s only appearance under Tuchel came as a substitute in the FA Cup in January 2022, a 5-1 win against Chesterfield. It was his first appearance for the club since 2014.

He left the club permanently to sign for Stoke later that month.

15. Lewis Hall – 1 appearance

Hall made his Chelsea debut in the same 5-1 win over Chesterfield and provided an assist, becoming the youngest player to start in the FA Cup for Chelsea in the process.

By the time his Premier League debut came later on in the year, Tuchel had been dismissed.

14. Marcus Bettinelli – 1 appearance

Signed in 2021 to bolster the goalkeeping ranks, Bettinelli’s Chelsea debut came against – you guessed it – Chesterfield in the FA Cup.

He remains at the club to this day.

13. Harvey Vale – 5 appearances

The versatile Cobham graduate broke through under Tuchel and made a handful of appearances before being sent on loan to Hull for the 2022-23 season, during which Tuchel was promptly sacked.

Vale was sent out on loan to Bristol Rovers for the 2023-24 campaign and was one of 13 players told to train away from the first-team when Enzo Maresca took charge this summer.

Having failed to secure a move away, it seems as though he’s stuck putting the cones out for the forseeable.

12. Conor Gallagher – 5 appearances

Ironically, Gallager feels like a player who Tuchel would love these days, but he only played five times under the German and spent the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons on loan away from the club at West Brom and Crystal Palace respectively.

He had to watch from the stands while on loan at the latter despite helping them reach the FA Cup semi-final where they faced his parent club. Tuchel apologised for him being unable to play the game.

11. Tammy Abraham – 7 appearances

Very much a man of the previous regime, Abraham broke through under Frank Lampard and – despite his potential – was never quite fancied by Tuchel.

He left the club in the summer of 2021 to sign for Roma and enjoyed a brilliant first season under Jose Mourinho, before being derailed by an ACL injury.

10. Raheem Sterling – 7 appearances

Tuchel only got seven appearances from Sterling before he was dismissed and replaced by Graham Potter after signing him from Manchester City in the summer of 2022.

We get the feeling that there’s unfinished business with this duo. Watch this space…

9. Ross Barkley – 14 appearances

Barkley was on loan at Aston Villa when Tuchel took charge at Chelsea, but remained with the squad for 2021-22 and saw out the final year of his contract under Tuchel.

In doing so, he also made his 100th appearance for the club.

8. Eric Dier – 20 appearances

Having fallen out of favour at Tottenham, nobody quite understood why Tuchel was so desperate to sign Dier for Bayern Munich, but he eventually got his man in January 2024 on a loan that became permanent following a set number of appearances.

The defender/midfielder didn’t manage to weigh in with a goal or an assist, but did make 20 appearances in the second half of the season under Tuchel before he left the club and was clearly a very important asset to the German.

Don’t be surprised if you see him recalled to an England squad in the near future.

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7. Trevoh Chalobah – 31 appearances

The emergence of Chalobah at Chelsea under Tuchel was one of several positives from his time in London, with the defender making 31 appearances under the German and looking like a ready-made top-level defender in his back-three system.

Before Tuchel, Chalobah was stuck in the infamous Chelsea loan cycle, but forced his way into the first-team under the German at right centre-back and weighed in with four goals and an assist.

Tuchel actually tried to sign the England under-21 international at Bayern, but was unsuccessful. If he deploys a back three/five, we might just see him earn his first senior caps.

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name all 44 players that Thomas Tuchel used at Chelsea?

6. Ben Chilwell – 39 appearances

Scoring away at Porto in the Champions League quarter-final, Chilwell’s first season at Stamford Bridge was a good one and got better when Tuchel replaced Lampard, fitting into his system rather seamlessly at left wing-back.

He started as they beat Manchester City in the 2021 Champions League final, but things unravelled later in the year when he ruptured his ACL against Juventus.

The defender has struggled to regain that same form ever since and looked to be out of Enzo Maresca’s plans altogether, but is now back in the fold.

5. Harry Kane – 45 appearances

Kane would’ve thrived no matter who the manager was in Munich at the time of his signing, proven by the fact he scored 44 goals in a season where Die Roten didn’t win the Bundesliga, but Tuchel adored him nevertheless.

Tuchel told the Bundesliga’s official website in January 2024 that he felt ‘privileged’ to coach Kane, adding: “The guy is super humble, he’s the first out there on the pitch every single day and anything you ask of him, he will do it.

“He’s a huge personality who becomes a shark on the field, because he wants to score, he wants to win, and he does it on a daily basis.

“I always say you learn from your players, if you have the privilege to be a coach, especially at this level, and you learn a lot from Harry.”

2026 World Cup. Tuchel x Kane. We need this. Please stay fit, Harry.

4. Ruben Loftus-Cheek – 46 appearances

Loftus-Cheek’s talent was never a surprise to anybody; the issue was making it consistent while he dealt with continuous injury setbacks.

However, Tuchel had plenty of belief in the midfielder and found a way for him to flourish at Chelsea after he returned from loan for the 2021-22 season.

He bagged one goal and assisted five times in 46 appearances under the German coach, that goal coming in the FA Cup semi-final against Palace.

The midfielder left at the end of the 2022-23 season to sign for Milan, with his opportunities again limited under new management.

3. Callum Hudson-Odoi – 46 appearances

On the bench as Chelsea won the Champions League in 2021, Hudson-Odoi was completely revived under Tuchel as a wing-back.

He weighed in with three goals and seven assists in total under the German and while the relationship between the two wasn’t always perfect – Tuchel hooked him after 31 minutes despite being him subbed on at half-time against Southampton in early 2021 – there was respect there.

Hudson-Odoi is now older, wiser and has improved significantly at Nottingham Forest. Don’t be surprised if Tuchel leans on him once again.

2. Reece James – 74 appearances

A player we’re sure Tuchel would love to lean on, it’s a shame how injuries have decimated James’ career so far and completely hampered his progress after such a stellar breakthrough.

After winning the Champions League in 2021l, the following season was particularly productive for the attacking right-back who regularly chipped in with goal contributions.

Injuries began to mount up following Tuchel’s departure, however, with him having played just 11 times since the beginning of last season.

The 24-year-old thankfully has time on his side, however, and could be crucial for England if he can stay fit.

1. Mason Mount – 87 appearances

Speaking of staying fit…

Mount missed the second half of his final season at Chelsea due to injury and is yet to get going at Manchester United for the same reasons, which is a shame, because he looked every bit a world-class midfielder under Tuchel.

The Englishman racked up 19 goals and 19 assists in his 87 appearances under the German, notably assisting Kai Havertz’s winning goal in the Champions League final.

James staying fit is a big if, but if Mount can stay fit – which seems marginally more likely – we’re almost certain he’ll be an England regular under Tuchel once again, having not been capped since the 2022 World Cup.

Former MotoGP star Jorge Lorenzo believes Marc Marquez now displays more respect towards rivals while battling with them on track, having initially found his antics to be “very aggressive”.

Lorenzo was one of Marquez’s main rivals during his golden period in the 2010s, with the pair even becoming team-mates at Honda in the former’s final season in 2019.

Their careers have taken different turns since then, with Lorenzo going on to become a commentator for Spanish broadcaster DAZN and Marquez joining the Gresini Ducati team in 2024 after being saddled with injuries and an uncompetitive bike in his final years at Honda.

Lorenzo conceded that he wasn’t a fan of Marquez’s style of racing when the latter graduated to the premier class in 2013 as the reigning Moto2 champion, but feels his countryman has changed the way he rides against other riders over the years.

“In 2013, I didn’t accept his [Marc’s] way of racing, which was very aggressive,” the three-time champion said at Festival dello Sport in Italy. “Now he has a bit more ‘respect’ towards his rivals. It must be said that the rules are stricter than ten years ago.”

Marc Marquez, Repsol Hond and Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marquez won six titles in his first seven years in MotoGP, with Lorenzo – then at Yamaha – the only rider to break his run when he triumphed in the controversial 2015 season.

Things started going downhill for Marquez after Lorenzo retired from MotoGP, with a horrific crash at the 2020 season opener in Jerez leaving him with career-altering injuries.

It took multiple surgeries and prolonged layoff periods to put the accident behind, but by the time he was close to full fitness the Honda RC213V had slumped to become the slowest bike on the grid.

Lorenzo believes Marquez would have been able to win several additional titles had his arm not been broken at Jerez four years ago.

“He is a beast on a sporting level,” he said of the 31-year-old. “Since 2020, he has had very bad luck in terms of his physical condition. Without those problems, he would have won at least two or three more world championships.”

Marquez’s struggles at Honda prompted him to leave the Japanese manufacturer with a year left on his contract and join Gresini at the start of the 2024 season.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
© Autosport.com

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

He will move up to the factory Ducati team next year, partnering Francesco Bagnaia, and will be in a position to challenge for the championship for the first time since 2019.

Lorenzo himself spent two seasons with Ducati in 2017-18 as part of a multi-million deal with the aim of leading the Borgo Panigale marque to its first title since 2007.

Although the Spaniard did hit his stride in his second season after a slow adaptation, the partnership ultimately ended with just three wins to boot.

He ended up moving to Honda for what turned out to be his final year in the premier class, while Ducati slowly turned the Desmosedici into a dominant bike.

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Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

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Hailing Ducati’s general manager Gigi Dall’Igna, Lorenzo said he would have been able to achieve the target set out by Ducati had he stayed with the team for a few more seasons.

“We met in 2004, in my last year in 125cc. Fate brought us together at Ducati,” he said of Dall’Igna. “I was very sorry not to have won a title with the Italian brand. I am convinced that, if I had stayed two more years, we would have won it.

“Now it is the best bike. It has no weak points.”