CAF Awards 2025: Achraf Hakimi wins the African Ballon d’Or
Achraf Hakimi was crowned African Player of the Year at the 2025 CAF Awards in Rabat, following an exceptional season that establishes him as one of the most influential defenders of his generation.
Twenty-seven years after Mustapha Hadji’s triumph, Morocco has finally returned to the top of continental football. In Rabat, in front of an enthusiastic crowd, Achraf Hakimi was named African Player of the Year at the 2025 CAF Awards, a recognition that caps a season of rare intensity for the Paris Saint-Germain right-back.
The Moroccan international, already indispensable in the Parisian setup, produced a simply monumental campaign. A member of an irresistible Parisian side, Hakimi piled up titles: Ligue des champions, Ligue 1, Coupe de France et Trophée des champions. To those collective triumphs is added an individual output that left observers impressed: 11 goals, 17 assists and a constant influence in the season’s decisive moments, even in the big European fixtures where he proved decisive at every stage.
Long touted among the contenders for the Ballon d’Or France Football, the 2023 African runner-up had seen his global dream stop short of the podium. But the continental objective, missed by a whisker last year, remained a stated ambition. Facing Mohamed Salah and Victor Osimhen in the final run, Hakimi this time won the voters’ favor, taking a trophy he had coveted for several seasons.
Having become a symbol of the Moroccan resurgence, even hampered by an ankle injury, the defender trained at Real Madrid adds his name to a prestigious list that includes the likes of Drogba, Eto’o, Salah and Mané. A personal crowning that could herald another: Morocco now dreams of seeing its captain lift the CAN in a few weeks.
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