Olunga to battle Salah, Lookman, Mane, Kudus for 2025 African Footballer Award

Photo Credit - FKF Media.

Kenya national team striker Michael Olunga has been nominated for the African Golden Awards 2025 in the best footballer of the year award category.

The Harambee Stars captain will have to fight it out with Senegal’s Sadio Mane, Egypt and Liverpool star Mohamed Salah, Ghana and West Ham United star Mohammed Kudus, and Africa’s Best Player and UEFA Europa League winner Ademola Lookman for the award.

Others in the list include Percy Tau of South Africa, Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez, Senegal’s Kalidou Koulibaly, Eric Bailly of Ivory Coast, Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi, Arsenal’s Thomas Partey, and Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana.

The rest include Ivory Coast’s Franck Kessié, Young Africans' (Yanga SC) ace Stephane Aziz, and Mamelodi Sundowns, and Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.

Olunga among the list of nominees.

According to a statement on www.africagoldenawards.co, the voting process started on Sunday, 9 March, and will continue until Monday, 21 April.

The nomination comes just a few days after Olunga represented Kenya in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixtures, scoring in both matches. Kenya drew 3-3 against Gambia with Olunga notching from the penalty before scoring the only goal in a 2-1 Gabon defeat.

Olunga, who features for Al Duhail SC in the Qatar Stars League, and has far scored 11 goals from 16 matches and provided two assists this season.