Victor Boniface was surprisingly missing in the list of 10 players nominated for the 2024 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Men’s Player Of The Year Award, despite his heroics for Bayer Leverkusen last season.
The attacker played a key role in Leverkusen’s fairytale run to their first Bundesliga title for the first time in the club’s history while they also won the DFB-Pokal trophy.
He scored 21 goals and registered 10 other assists overall while in the Bundesliga alone, he netted 14 goals and bagged nine assists in 23 matches.
The German club also reached the final of the UEFA Europa League which they lost 3-0 to Atalanta courtesy of Ademola Lookman’s unstoppable brilliance.
The 23-year-old was omitted by CAF in the shortlist released on Tuesday for the award set to hold in Morocco on December 16.
Boniface’s exclusion has sparked surprise among Nigerians, particularly considering the players who made the cut.
Therefore, Wavenews looks at players who did not do as much as the Leverkusen forward in the period under review but got nomination.
Boniface vs Ronwen Williams
Ronwen Williams is the goalkeeper of Mamelodi Sundowns in the South African League and captain of the Bafana Bafana of South Africa.
He won the golden glove at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire, keeping five clean sheets.
He is one of the nominees for the award but his country only finished third at the competition. Obviously, all the nominees featured at the last AFCON.
Boniface missed the competition due to a groin problem he picked up while in the Eagles camp for the tournament.
Boniface vs Simon Adingra
Simon Adingra played a significant role for Ivory Coast as they won their third AFCON title at the 2023 AFCON and was named Best Young Player of the Tournament. However, the Brighton winger only scored six goals in 31 appearances in the Premier League for the club. at the AFCON, he made five appearances for the Elephants and scored only one goal.
Boniface vs Achraf Hakimi
Morocco crashed out of the last AFCON in the last-16. Though Paris Saint-Germain, whom he plays for, won the Ligue 1 and the Coup de France. Hakimi is not a prolific goal scorer, and this fact makes people question why he made the list and Boniface conspicuously missing.
Boniface vs Amine Gouiri
Amine Gouiri plays as a left-back for French club Rennes. The Algerian featured at the 2023 AFCON but his country crashed out of the group stage of the tournament for the second time in as many tournaments. It is hard to place a finger to what extraordinary thing Gouiri achieved at both club and country levels.
Boniface vs Edmond Tapsoba
Coincidentally, Edmond Tapsoba is Boniface’s teammate at Leverkusen and are very close. He is not a striker but a centre-back and won everything as Boniface at the German club. However, the West African nation crashed out of the competition in the round of 16.
Boniface vs Chancel Mbemba
Chancel Mbemba was solid for DR Congo at the 2023 AFCON where his team got to the semi-final. He is a centre-back for Olympique Marseille.
Boniface vs Soufiane Rahimi
Soufiane Rahimi plays for United Arab Emirates Pro League club Al Ain and the Morocco national team. The Atlas Lions got knocked out of the AFCON in the round of 16. He featured in 18 matches for the club in the league last season and scored only eight goals.
