Anguissa, Onana nominated for 2025 CAF Awards.

Anguissa has been shortlisted for the prestigious Men’s Player of The Year distinction while Onana is on the starting block for the Men’s Goalkeeper of The Year Award. 

Both Anguissa and Onana are familiar faces on the CAF Awards. Anguissa was shortlisted for The Player of the Year in 2023 before finally missing out on the podium.

Onana made the three-man final cut in the Goalkeeper of The Year category in 2023 and 2024, but the crown in both editions went to Morocco’s Yassine Bounou and South Africa’s Ronwen Williams, respectively.

Despite the 2024 heartbreak, the Cameroonian went ahead to be named as the first-choice goalkeeper in the African Team of The Year at the same awards.

Anguissa up against a stellar nine-man lineup 

Anguissa is on the Men’s Player of The Year category alongside nine other stars. The list is expected to be trimmed to a maximum of five finalists before the award ceremony tipped for December this year.

The Napoli SC is midfielder is up against Borussia Dortmund’s Guinean forward, Serhou Guirassy, Achraf Hakimi of Paris Saint Germain and Morocco. Also on the list are RS Berkane’s Moroccan star, Oussama Lamlioui; Denis Bouanga of Gabon and Los Angeles FC and Pyramids FC’s Congolese attacker, Fiston Mayele.

Other names on the lineup include 2023 winner Victor Osimhen of Galatasaray and Nigeria and two-time holder, Egypt’s Liverpool forward, Mohamed Salah. Guirassy and Hakimi both made the five-man final list of nominees for the 2024 award.

Anguissa had an excellent 2024/2025 season at the club level with Napoli SC. The Cameroonian played a decisive role as the club emerged champions of the Italian topflight championship, claiming its second distinction in the competition in three seasons.

Cameroonian footballers have won the African player of the year award a record 11 times. However, the country last claimed the award 16 years ago when Samuel Eto’o bagged the 2010 distinction ahead of Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan of and Cote d’Ivoire’s Didier Drogba.

The closest Cameroon has come to securing the distinction since Eto’o Fils’ 2010 crown dates back to 2012 when former Indomitable Lions midfielder, Alexander Song, finished third on the final standing behind the Ivorian pair of Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba.

Enter Onana

Onana is facing competition from Saudi Pro League pair of Yassine Bounou who plays for Al Hilal and Senegal international, Edouard Mendy of Al-Ahli.

Other names on the list include Egyptian international, Ahmed El Shenawy of Pyramids, alongside Chaves football club’s Cabo Verdean legend, Vozinha, and the current holder, Ronwen Williams of Mamelodi Sundowns and South Africa.

Onana who is now on a season-long loan at Turkish Super Lig team, Trabzonspor, led Manchester United to the final of the 2024/2025 edition of the Europa League, Europe’s second biggest club competition. The 2025 CAF Awards is expected to take place in Cairo in Egypt in December this year. 

Asides the men’s player and goalkeeper of the year categories, Cameroon has also been nominated in the women’s national team of the year category for the 2025 CAF Awards. 

The Under17 women’s national football team which is currently competing in the 2025 Under17 FIFA Women’s World Cup, bagged the nomination after it qualified for the 2025 global age-group competition to mark its first appearance in the competition since 2018.

The outfit is nominated in its category alongside the under17 women’s national football team of Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria and Zambia and the senior women’s national football teams of Ghana, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3603 of Thursday October 23, 2025