🇳🇬 CAF African Footballer of the Year 2024

Nigeria's
Greatest
On The Wing

Three goals. One final. A legacy sealed forever.
Ademola Lookman — Africa's best, Nigeria's heartbeat, the winger Europe couldn't stop.

Explore His Story View Stats
55 Atalanta Goals
3 UEL Final Goals
#1 Africa 2024
Ademola Lookman in action
11 Jersey No.
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Who is Ademola Lookman?

If you want to understand Ademola Lookman, start with Dublin. 22 May 2024. A sold-out arena, a Bayer Leverkusen side unbeaten in 51 consecutive matches, and a kid from Peckham who had spent years being loaned out, shipped around Europe, and quietly written off. By the final whistle, Lookman had scored three goals — different feet, different angles, different levels of audacity — and the greatest unbeaten run in modern European football was over. Born 20 October 1997 in Wandsworth, south London, to Nigerian parents with roots in Lagos State, he grew up in one of England's toughest neighbourhoods and belongs to the Yoruba ethnic group. He chose in 2022 to represent Nigeria's Super Eagles at senior level after winning a World Cup with England's under-20 side — a decision that said everything about who he is. At Atalanta BC, under Gian Piero Gasperini, he evolved from a promising but inconsistent winger into arguably the most complete attacker in world football in 2024 — posting 55 goals and 27 assists in 137 appearances before a £30.3 million move took him to Atlético Madrid in January 2026.

⚽ Winger / AMF 🇳🇬 Super Eagles 🏆 UEL Winner 2024 🌍 CAF AFOTY 2024 📍 Born in London 🏠 Lagos Origin 🎂 Age 28 📏 173 cm

Gallery

The man, the movement, the magic

Ademola Lookman celebrating a goal
Celebration
Ademola Lookman representing Nigeria Super Eagles
Super Eagles
Ademola Lookman at the 2024 Europa League final
UEL Final 2024

Player Profile

The details behind the name

Lookman's identity is layered in ways that a stat sheet can't capture. Born British, built Nigerian. He carries both passports and both cultures — the intensity of south London streets alongside the warmth and pride of his Yoruba heritage. A great deal of what makes him extraordinary on a football pitch comes from somewhere deeper: the composure under pressure that grows when you have very little to rely on besides yourself, the academic discipline — three A*s and five As at GCSE — that reveals how sharply he processes information, and the spiritual grounding that keeps him level-headed when the game demands everything. At 173 cm and right-footed, he plays primarily as a left winger or second striker, though any label you put on him tends to undersell what he actually does when the ball is at his feet.

👤
Full Name
Ademola Olajade Lookman
🎂
Date of Birth
20 October 1997
📍
Place of Birth
Wandsworth, London, England
🇳🇬
Nationality
Nigerian / British
🏠
State of Origin
Lagos State, Nigeria
⚽
Position
Left Winger / Second Striker
🦵
Preferred Foot
Right
📏
Height
173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
⚖️
Weight
73 kg (161 lbs)
🏟️
Current Club
Atlético Madrid
👕
Jersey Number
11
✝️
Religion
Christian

Career Journey

From South London to the grandest stages in Europe

On paper, Lookman's early career reads like a cautionary tale: too many clubs, too many loan deals, no settled home. In reality, it was something closer to an education. Charlton Athletic gave him a first-team stage at 18. Everton gave him the Premier League and his first taste of what debut goals feel like in a full stadium. Loans to RB Leipzig, Fulham and Leicester City gave him three different tactical schools and the physical robustness that Serie A would eventually demand. When Atalanta paid €15 million for him in August 2022, they weren't buying a finished article — they were acquiring raw material that Gian Piero Gasperini would refine into a weapon. It took one season for everyone outside Bergamo to realise what had happened. By the second, the whole continent was watching. By the third, he was carrying a Europa League winner's medal and the CAF African Footballer of the Year trophy. In January 2026, Atlético Madrid decided they wanted that weapon in their system, and paid £30.3 million to get it.

2015 – 2017
Charlton Athletic
EFL League One · England

Debut at 18 with a maturity that had League One defenders talking the next morning. Within months, half the Premier League wanted to know his price.

2017 – 2019
Everton FC
Premier League · England

Fee: £7.5m. Debut goal against Manchester City, barely off the bench. But Goodison Park couldn't quite unlock what made him tick. Not yet.

Jan – Jun 2018
RB Leipzig Loan
Bundesliga · Germany

Six months as a second thought became a calling card. Scored as a late substitute on his very first appearance. German football sat up.

2019 – 2020
RB Leipzig
Bundesliga · Germany

A full season inside Leipzig's relentless pressing machine gave him the physical and tactical vocabulary for everything that came later.

2020 – 2021
Fulham FC Loan
Premier League · England

Back in England for a battling Premier League season at Craven Cottage. Showed that his quality didn't depend on who was around him.

2021 – 2022
Leicester City Loan
Premier League · England

The final chapter of his loan education. Four leagues, four systems, four different coaches — what looked scattered was actually a masterclass in adaptation.

2022 – 2026
Atalanta BC ⭐
Serie A · Italy

The destination that changed everything. Gasperini took one look at what Lookman could do and built a system around it. 137 apps · 55 goals · 27 assists · Europa League winner 2024. End of debate.

2026 – Present
Atlético Madrid 🔴
La Liga · Spain

Simeone rarely spends big. When he does, the player is ready. Lookman signed for £30.3m, scored on debut vs Real Betis, and the next chapter began immediately.

Key Statistics

Numbers that tell the story

Raw numbers rarely capture what Lookman brings to a game — but these ones come close. At Atalanta he averaged a direct goal contribution roughly every other match across all competitions. His 2023–24 Europa League campaign, from the group stage to the final, produced a performance level that had analysts scrambling to find historical comparisons. In Serie A he delivered double-digit goals in every complete season — something very few European wingers managed over the same period. For Nigeria, a scoring rate of better than one goal every three caps places him among the Super Eagles' most efficient attackers in a generation — made even more impressive by the fact that he didn't play his first senior international until he was 24 years old.

100+
Career Goals
Across all clubs & international
55
Atalanta Goals
In 137 appearances (2022–26)
27
Atalanta Assists
In 137 appearances (2022–26)
3
Europa League Final Goals
Hat-trick vs Bayer Leverkusen 2024
11+
Nigeria Goals
In 32+ international caps
32+
International Caps
Super Eagles appearances
15
Serie A Goals
2024–25 season (partial)
£30.3m
Transfer Fee
Atalanta → Atlético Madrid, 2026

Scored On Debut At Every Senior Club

Charlton
Everton
RB Leipzig
Atalanta
Atlético Madrid

Trophies & Awards

A cabinet built for the ages

No African footballer has ever had a calendar year quite like Lookman's 2024. He swept into Dublin on a May evening and did what no player had managed in 55 years — scored a hat-trick in a one-legged European final. Not in some early qualifying round. The main event, against a Bayer Leverkusen side that had been practically invincible all season. Then, in December, he flew to Marrakech and collected the CAF African Footballer of the Year award — not as a surprise choice, but as the only logical one. Atalanta's 61-year wait for silverware ended because of him. Nigeria's decade-long search for a transformative attacker ended because of him. In a single year, Lookman rewrote what African footballers are capable of at the highest level.

🏆
UEFA Europa League
2023–24
Atalanta's first ever European trophy, won with a Lookman hat-trick in the Dublin final. The club had waited 61 years for this.
🌍
CAF African Footballer of the Year
2024
The 7th Nigerian to win Africa's top individual prize — and arguably the most convincing winner in years.
🌐
FIFA U-20 World Cup
2017
Won with England U20 in South Korea. Three goals in the tournament. The first piece of silverware in a growing collection.
⭐
Ballon d'Or Nominee
2024
First Atalanta player in the club's 117-year history to appear on the Ballon d'Or ballot. Bergamo finally made it to Paris.
🎖️
Order of the Niger
2024
Nigeria's national honour, awarded to Lookman and the Super Eagles squad following their AFCON 2023 final run.
🥈
AFCON Runner-Up
2023
Nigeria's first AFCON final appearance since 2013. Lookman was their best player every time it mattered most.
🥉
AFCON 3rd Place
2025
Goals and assists as Nigeria secured third place. Two tournaments, two podium finishes — with Lookman at the centre of both.
💛
Nike Global Ambassador
Ongoing
A multi-million euro Nike deal that reflects his standing not just as a footballer, but as one of Africa's most marketable sports figures.

Super Eagles Career

Representing the Green and White with pride

The decision to choose Nigeria over England at senior level was not complicated for Lookman — but it was significant. He already had a FIFA U-20 World Cup winner's medal from South Korea 2017 and a realistic path to a Three Lions call-up. He chose identity instead. FIFA confirmed his switch in February 2022, and he made his Super Eagles debut on 25 March in a World Cup qualifier against Ghana. He immediately looked at home, like the squad had been waiting for him. At AFCON 2023 in Ivory Coast, when Nigeria's attack went quiet, Lookman was the answer every time — three goals, the decisive one in each knockout round he played. He took the Super Eagles to their first AFCON final in a decade almost on his own. In 2025, he did it again. There is no bigger game in Nigeria's football calendar than one featuring Ademola Lookman on the pitch with something to prove.

🇳🇬
Nigeria
Super Eagles
32+ Caps
11+ Goals
2022 Debut Year
Mar 2022
Debut vs Ghana. A calm, controlled first appearance that suggested he'd never played anywhere else.
AFCON 2023
Man of the tournament in everything but name. Brace vs Cameroon (2–0). Winner vs Angola (1–0). Nigeria reach the final.
AFCON 2025
Did it again. Goal and two assists vs Tunisia. Opening goal vs Tanzania. Nigeria claim third place, Lookman claims the spotlight.
U-20 2017
Won a World Cup with England before Nigeria ever called. Three goals, one trophy. The backstory that adds weight to every green shirt he wears.

Playing Style

What makes Lookman one of a kind

Watch Lookman once and you see a quick winger. Watch him five times and you see something more interesting: a player who has studied the geometry of football at a level that lets him solve problems others didn't know existed. He starts on the left, but that's just the launch pad. The cut inside onto his right foot is so ingrained and so precisely timed that full-backs who know it's coming still can't stop it — because knowing and reacting are two completely different things at that speed. Gasperini's 3-4-3 system at Atalanta was built to exploit exactly this quality: a wide runner who simultaneously occupies the left flank, threatens the half-space, and drags centre-backs out of position for teammates arriving late. The results spoke for themselves. His dribble success rate and shot-creation numbers placed him in elite company across Europe's top five leagues — not just as an African player, but as any player, anywhere.

⚡

Explosive Pace

Not pure sprint speed — decision speed. The fraction of a second Lookman needs to accelerate past a defender is shorter than most wingers at any level. By the time the full-back reacts, the angle is already gone.

🔄

Inverted Winger

He occupies the left flank but shoots with his right foot. Every time he receives wide, defenders face a choice: close him down and open space behind, or hold shape and let him cut in. There is no clean answer.

🎯

Clinical Finishing

Three goals in a European final, with both feet, against the best defensive unit in the Bundesliga. That is not instinct alone — that is cold-blooded precision developed through thousands of hours of repetition.

🕹️

1v1 Dribbling

Lookman doesn't dribble to show off. He dribbles to create — pulling two defenders toward him before releasing the ball, or holding until the moment the gap opens and then disappearing into it. Every touch has a reason.

👁️

Creative Vision

His 27 assists at Atalanta are the evidence. Lookman sees the pass before the opportunity exists. He is the kind of player who makes teammates look better — a rare quality in someone with his individual ability.

🔀

Tactical Flexibility

Gasperini moved him across the entire front three. Simeone has already used him differently. Whether he is the focal point or a wide outlet, Lookman adapts without losing what makes him dangerous.

"

The first few conversations I had with him made me look at football differently.

— Ademola Lookman, on what Gian Piero Gasperini showed him about the game

Defining Moments

The nights that made history

22 May 2024

The Hat-Trick That Shocked Europe

Aviva Stadium, Dublin · UEFA Europa League Final

There are football matches that exist, and then there are nights that get absorbed into the sport's mythology. Aviva Stadium. Atalanta versus Bayer Leverkusen — unbeaten in 51 consecutive matches across all competitions. Before kick-off, the story belonged entirely to Leverkusen. By minute twelve, Lookman had scored. By minute twenty-six, he had nutmegged Granit Xhaka and curled his answer to any remaining doubt into the far corner. His third came with fifteen minutes left — precise, left-footed, unhurried. Atalanta won 3–0. The unbeaten run was finished. Lookman became the first African player in history to score a hat-trick in a major UEFA final, and only the second player in 55 years to do so in any one-legged European final.

⚽ 12' Right foot ⚽ 26' Left foot — nutmeg on Xhaka ⚽ 75' Left foot
January 2017

A Premier League Debut You Don't Forget

Goodison Park · Premier League

He had barely broken a sweat as a substitute when the ball fell to him inside the box against Manchester City. The finish was clean, the celebration brief — as if scoring in your first senior Premier League appearance was simply what you did. The Premier League had been formally introduced.

AFCON 2023

One Man Carrying a Nation

Ivory Coast · Africa Cup of Nations

Nigeria's 2023 AFCON had collective moments, but when the tournament turned serious, one man shouldered the weight. Both goals in the Round of 16 against Cameroon. The only goal against Angola in the quarter-final. When the Super Eagles needed someone to step forward, Lookman was already there.

December 2024

Africa's Best. Officially.

Marrakech, Morocco · CAF Awards

Receiving the CAF African Footballer of the Year award in the same year you delivered the greatest European final individual performance in half a century is a different category entirely. He was the seventh Nigerian to win the prize — and arguably the most deserving winner the ceremony had seen in years.

February 2026

Five Clubs. Five Debut Goals.

Madrid · La Liga

At some point, coincidence stops being the explanation. When Lookman scored for Atlético Madrid against Real Betis on his debut, it was the fifth time he had opened his account on his first senior appearance for a new club. This is not luck. This is character.

2017

World Champion at 19

South Korea · FIFA U-20 World Cup

Before Nigeria, before Atalanta, before the hat-trick — there was a teenager in South Korea, three goals in a World Cup, and a winner's medal with England U20. The foundation was laid earlier than most people realise.

Off the Pitch

The man behind the footballer

Behind the trophies is a story that starts with very little. Lookman grew up in Peckham — one of South London's most economically deprived postcodes — in a household where food was sometimes scarce. He has spoken openly about going to friends' houses to eat after training sessions because there was nothing at home, a detail he shared in the 2023 documentary South of the River. His mother worked multiple jobs to keep the family going. What is remarkable is that alongside all of this, he sat his GCSEs at St Thomas the Apostle College and walked away with three A*s and five As. That combination — sharp intellect, Yoruba heritage, Christian faith, and a childhood that demanded resilience — produced a footballer who does not panic, does not shrink in big moments, and does not forget where he came from.

🏠

Peckham Roots

Peckham produced him. Not in spite of what the neighbourhood lacked, but partly because of it. The inner-city resolve that comes from growing up with limited resources runs through everything he does on the pitch — a refusal to treat difficulty as a reason to stop.

📚

Academic Achiever

Three A*s and five As at GCSE. Most footballers who turn professional at 18 have quietly traded the classroom for the training pitch. Lookman did both — and the numbers suggest he excelled at both. It tells you something about how he thinks.

✝️

Christian Faith

His faith isn't peripheral — it's central. Active in the Ballers In God online community, Lookman has been open about the role Christianity played during the difficult loan years when his career could have unravelled. He describes it not as comfort, but as direction.

❤️

Relationship

He walked the red carpet at the 2024 CAF Awards in Morocco with Jayda Love, an American IT professional from Dallas (University of Oklahoma, Public Relations graduate). A private man by nature, Lookman keeps this side of his life largely away from the public eye.

🌍

Choosing Nigeria

He had every professional reason to remain aligned with England — Premier League networks, a World Cup medal, a realistic path to senior recognition. He chose Nigeria instead. Not reluctantly, not as a fallback. As a statement of who he is and where he comes from. That choice has since shaped the trajectory of an entire national team.

💰

Earnings & Lifestyle

A Nike Global Ambassador deal reportedly worth over €3 million per year. A transfer market value that crossed £30 million. A car collection including Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Range Rover. Estimated net worth between £10–15 million — managed, by all accounts, with the same intelligence he shows on the ball.

Did You Know?

10 things that explain why Lookman is different

01

Five clubs as a senior professional. Five debut goals. At Charlton, Everton, RB Leipzig, Atalanta and Atlético Madrid — the scoresheet moved every single time he pulled on a new shirt for the first time.

02

His 2024 Europa League hat-trick was the first in a one-legged men's European final in 55 years — since Pierino Prati scored three for AC Milan in 1969. Before Lookman was born. Before his parents were born.

03

No African player — across any men's UEFA competition — had ever scored a hat-trick in a major final before Dublin 2024. The continent produced the moment European football had never seen coming.

04

His full name is Ademola Olajade Lookman — rooted in Yoruba tradition, and sounding to many outside Nigeria distinctly Muslim. He is a practising Christian, and has spoken publicly about his faith throughout his career. The name is heritage, not religion.

05

Three A*s and five As at GCSE. Professional footballers rarely share academic results. Lookman has, and the numbers are extraordinary — the kind of performance you'd expect from someone preparing for university, not training grounds.

06

In the documentary South of the River, Lookman describes going to friends' houses for food after training sessions because his home sometimes had nothing to eat. He says it plainly, without asking for sympathy. Where you come from matters — and he knows it.

07

In South Korea in 2017, he scored three goals and won the FIFA U-20 World Cup with England. Five years later, he was representing Nigeria. The medal stayed; the allegiance changed. Both decisions were entirely his — and both turned out to be right.

08

Atalanta have been in Italian football since 1907. In 117 years, no player from the club had ever appeared on the Ballon d'Or ballot. Lookman broke that record in 2024 — placing in the top 30 of world football's most prestigious individual ranking.

09

The Dublin hat-trick came approximately six weeks after back-to-back final defeats: the AFCON 2023 final with Nigeria, and the Coppa Italia final with Atalanta. Two losses in a month. Then three goals in a European final. The timing was almost theatrical.

10

Granit Xhaka has over 100 caps for Switzerland and a decade at the highest level of club football. In the 26th minute of the Europa League final, Lookman received the ball, looked him in the eye, and put it through his legs before curling the shot in. Of everything he has done, this is the one that most completely explains who he is.

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