10 African Footballers To Look Out For In The 2024/2025 Season

Football has never been a more global spectacle than it is now. From the cobbled streets of Europe to the dusty pitches of Africa and mini-cages of South America, the beautiful game has reached every corner of the planet and become the most popular sport in the world. According to FIFA, over 1.5 billion viewers tuned in to the final match of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, reflecting the fervid interest in the sport and the appeal it enjoys. 

The popularity of football comes in no small part from the popular national leagues that keep the machinery running year after year with only a few months break from the end of May to around the middle of August. With football returning for the 2024/2025 Season, there are many African football stars to look out for as they battle for glory and survival in leagues across the world. 

STATEMENT profiled 10 African stars to look out for as the action gets underway.

Victor Osimhen 

Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen was always expected to leave SSC Napoli at the end of the 2023/2024 football season per a gentlemanly agreement reached with the Italian club’s leadership. No one quite expected his transfer to be a protracted affair that continued right until the very end of the summer transfer window, with clubs like Al-Ahli Saudi Football Club and Chelsea vying for his signature at several points in the window. 

Unfortunately, neither club could seal the transfer in time and Napoli insisted that Osimhen wouldn’t be reintegrated into their squad for the 2024/2025 season. An opportunity to move to Turkish giants, Galatasaray, on a season-long loan opened up. The Nigerian striker has since moved to Istanbul to continue his career with an eye on a move in January or at the end of this season. It was a crazy end to a transfer window fiasco for the ages, and with the move out of the way, Osimhen will be eager to get back to scoring goals and proving himself as one of the world’s most lethal strikers. 

Noussair Mazraoui 

A standout member of the Moroccan team that reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Noussair Mazraoui is regarded as one of the best full-backs in the world due to his proficiency on the right and left wings. A whirlwind two-year spell at German giants, Bayern Munich, came to an end earlier this summer when he transferred to Manchester United alongside a fellow teammate, Matthijs De Ligt. 

At Manchester United, Mazraoui has linked up with Erik Ten Hang, his former coach at Ajax and he’s expected to have a big season due to the paucity of options at full-back for the Mancunian club. Already, he has made an appearance in all three Premier League games so far and has received rave reviews from the Manchester United faithful, but there’s still a long way to go in the season. 

Issa Kabore

Big things were expected of Burkina Faso right-back, Issa Kabore, when he signed to Belgian team, KV Mechelen, in 2019. A year later, he was moving again to English powerhouse, Manchester City. Due to City’s plethora of talent on the books, Kabore has not broken into the team. Instead, he has spent time out on loan at several clubs. Kabore made a big impression on loan at Luton during the 2023/2024 season with the London-based club playing entertaining football and almost avoiding relegation from the Premier League. 

He was a part of Manchester City’s victorious squad in the Community Shield held a week before the new season resumed. Kabore’s athletic performance in 2023/2024 has also ensured another loan move for the new season. The Burkinabe defender will spend the 2024/2025 season on loan at Benfica hoping to help the Portuguese side challenge for the league title and bolster his profile. 

Oumar Diakite

When Côte d’Ivoire won the Africa Cup Of Nations in February 2023, it confirmed the arrival of a new generation of talent primed to continue the storied football lineage of the country. The Elephants of Côte d’Ivoire have a would-be talisman to guide them for a decade – at the very least – in forward Oumar Diakite. After emerging from the renowned Ivorian club,  ASEC Mimosas, he joined Red Bull Salzburg in 2022. Despite never playing a competitive game for the club, he made an impression on loan at its feeder team, Liefering, before joining French side, Stade de Reims, ahead of the 2023/2024 season. 

Diakite made a big splash with the winning goal against Mali in the quarter-final of the 2023 Africa Cup Of Nations and has also been maturing into an important member of the Stade de Reims squad. He is still seen as raw and prone to bouts of poor decision-making, but a majestic playing style and his natural talent make him a star to watch out for across the course of the 2024/2025 season. 

Victor Boniface 

Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen completed an unprecedented unbeaten season in the Bundesliga in the 2023/2024 campaign, culminating in winning the club’s first league title and the DFB Pokal. Nigerian striker, Victor Boniface, was central to the team’s triumph. Despite only just arriving from Belgian club, Union SG, the striker took to the Bundesliga with aplomb, terrorising defences and forming a lethal partnership with German wunderkind, Florian Wirtz, before an adductor injury caused him to miss a significant part of the season. 

Boniface is expected to lead the line once again for Xabi Alonso’s team this season as it navigates a title defence that’s sure to be keenly contested with traditional giants. Bayern Munich, also keen to win back their title. The striker will also hope to improve his 21-goal tally from last season as he takes the next step to being regarded as one of the best forwards in world football. 

Hannibal Mejbri 

During the 2021/2022 season, onlookers at Old Trafford got accustomed to the high-intensity, energetic style of Tunisian midfielder, Hannibal Mejbri, who joined the club from Monégasque club, Monaco, after a protracted legal battle. While Hannibal has not gone on to cement a place at Manchester United, he is undoubtedly highly rated and seemingly on the precipice of a major breakthrough.

He spent the 2023/2024 season on loan at the Spanish side, Sevilla, but is set to spend this campaign in the English second-tier with Burnley as they attempt to instantly return to the Premier League after suffering relegation last term. By all indications, Hannibal’s dynamic and energetic style should be a great fit for the team as they battle their way through a physical Championship division. 

Karim Konate 

Austrian side, Red Bull Salzburg, have proved to have an astute eye for Ivorian talent in recent years. Striker, Karim Konate, might be the cream of the crop thanks to a prolific scoring rate that is catching the notice of Europe’s biggest clubs. Another graduate of ASEC Mimosas, he moved to Austria ahead of the 2022/2023 season and was loaned to Liefering to aid his development. His solo season with Liefering saw him register 15 goals in 18 games. 

It is a scoring rate that he has kept up with since returning to Red Bull Salzburg for the second half of the 2022/2023 season where he scored five goals in 10 games. The 2023/2024 season was similarly fruitful for the striker who finished with 22 goals in 38 appearances. At 20, he is sure to keep up his impressive goals as the rest of Europe keeps tabs on his future availability. 

Pape Matar Sarr

Pape Matar Sarr was always highly regarded. After coming through at the highly-regarded Génération Foot in his native Senegal, he moved to Metz in France before signing a deal with the English club, Tottenham Hotspur. Last season was his breakthrough campaign as he emerged as a midfield lynchpin for Australian coach, Ange Postecoglu’s, midfield. Performing as a box-to-box midfielder, Sarr contributed both offensively and defensively across the campaign and signed a new deal until 2030 as a reward for his fine form. 

He has started the new season in similarly fine form, appearing in every Tottenham Premier League game so far and is expected to be a big fixture in the team throughout the season. 

Bilal El Khannouss

There has never been a greater demand for technical security from the midfielders at the top end of football than there is now, and Moroccan youngster, Bilal El Khannouss, is already regarded as one of the best passers in the game. Originally nurtured in the famed academy of Belgian giants, Anderlecht, after being spotted playing street football in the Brussels suburb of Strombeek-Bever, he eventually left the academy of Anderlecht at age 14 to join rivals, Genk. At Genk, he broke through and displayed all the hallmarks of a top star suited to the modern game, racking close to 100 appearances for the club by his 20th birthday. 

He joined the Moroccan squad ahead of their heroics at the 2022 World Cup and has gone on to make over 15 appearances for the national team since then. El Khannouss will be keen to take the next step in an exciting career after signing with Premier League returnees, Leicester City, in the summer and help his new team avoid the drop. 

Ademola Lookman

After a journeyman career that took him across Europe early in his career, Ademola Lookman has finally settled at Atalanta in Italy’s north, emerging as a key figure in Gian Piero Giasperini’s side over the past two years. The 2023/2024 season was a special highlight for the Nigerian footballer who scored a hat trick against Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Europa League final and ended up as the man of the match after a dominant display by his side. 

Already nominated for the 2024 Ballon d’Or award, the 2024/2025 season promises to be even more eventful for Lookman. He will be expected to shoulder a huge portion of the creative burden for an Atalanta club looking to better its return in the Italian Serie A as well as handling the pressures of the expanded UEFA Champions League.