Super Eagles star Lookman nominated for Ballon d’Or; Messi, Ronaldo, Osimhen miss out

Nigerian forward Ademola Lookman has been nominated for the 2024 men’s Ballon d’Or award.
The 26-year-old Atalanta player is the only African player shortlisted alongside 29 other players for the coveted award, announced by France Football Magazine on Wednesday.
Lookman was instrumental in Atalanta’s first-ever European trophy win last season, scoring a hat-trick in the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen. He scored 17 goals and made 11 assists in all for Atalanta last season.
He was also a key part of the Super Eagles’ run to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire early this year, scoring two goals as Nigeria finished as runners-up.
This year’s Ballon d’Or list is dominated by players from the Spanish national team that won the Euro 2024 and the Real Madrid team that won the UEFA Champions League.
Some notable names on the list include Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Erling Haaland, and Kylian Mbappe. And for the first time since 2003, neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo are in contention for one of football’s biggest individual prizes.
Full list of nominees:
Jude Bellingham
Hakan Çalhanoğlu
Dani Carvajal
Martin Ødegaard
Dani Olmo
Cole Palmer
Rúben Dias
Declan Rice
Artem Dovbyk
Rodri
Phil Foden
Antonio Rüdiger
Alejandro Grimaldo
Bukayo Saka
Erling Haaland
William Saliba
Mats Hummels
Federico Valverde
Harry Kane
Vinícius Jr.
Toni Kroos
Vitinha
Ademola Lookman
Nico Williams
Emiliano Martínez
Florian Wirtz
Lautaro Martínez
Kylian Mbappé
Granit Xhaka
Lamine Yamal
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette

States
Independence: NBA urges Nigerians to expect better future
The NBA said that ordinary Nigerians should be deriving benefit from the subsidy removal rather than hardship.

Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”
Anti-Corruption
Nine suspects arrested in FBI’s latest operation against Yahoo Boys in Nigeria
The FBI boss made the disclosure on Sunday.

NationWide
Nigeria edge Uganda by 1 run to win Cricket World Cup Africa qualifier
Nigeria scored 148 runs in 19.4 overs before restricting Uganda to 147 for nine in 20 overs at the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) Oval 1 on Sunday.

Heading 1
NiMet predicts three-day dust haze, thunderstorms nationwide from Monday
For Wednesday, the agency forecast sunny and hazy conditions across the northern region throughout the day.

Health
Ebola: Kebbi intensifies surveillance at airport, border
Mr Abubakar stressed the state government’s commitment to protecting residents through proactive disease surveillance.

NationWide
Osoba celebrates veteran journalist Bonuola at 80
Mr Osoba described Mr Bonuola as a serious minded intellectual.

NationWide
SDP presidential candidate seeks balanced media coverage of political parties
Mr Adebayo urged political parties to present clear policy proposals to address the country’s challenges.





