REVEALED: Why Chebbak beat Ajibade to CAF African Women’s Footballer of the Year 2025 Crown 

By Harry Awurumibe, Editor-in-Chief, Abuja

It is no longer news that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has made a decision by picking Morocco and Al Hilal Ladies football club of Saudi Arabia forward, Ghizlane Chebbak as the winner of the coveted CAF African Women’s Footballer of the Year 2025 title.

At an elaborate CAF Awards ceremony held on Wednesday, November 19, 2025, at the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Rabat, Chebbak was announced as the winner of the prestigious individual football award.

She beat a strong field of equally talented African women footballers plying their trades within and outside the continent, including her fellow Moroccan, Sanaà Mssoudy and Super Falcons captain Rasheedat Ajibade who led the Nigeria team to win the 10th CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco last July.

Before reducing the list to the final three names, CAF had a month ago nominated for the African Player of the Year category, Nigeria’s Ajibade and Esther Okoronkwo as well as the immediate past African Best Player, Zambia’s Barbara Banda; Portia Boakye of Ghana; Malawian duo of Tabitha Chawinga andTemwa Chawinga; Chebbak; Mama Diop of Senegal; Mssoudy; and Rachael Kundananaji of Zambia.

However, CAF selectors made up of CAF Technical Committee members; African football legends; Media professionals from the various CAF member associations; Head coaches and captains of the national teams of CAF member associations voted in favour of Chebbak instead of Ajibade and Mssoudy.

Although Chebbak’s choice as the CAF African Women’s Footballer of the Year 2025 may not have gone down well with some fans, especially women’s football followers in Nigeria, the organisers (CAF) can not be faulted in the their choice of the Moroccan star whose performances in the past two editions of Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) held in Morocco in 2022 and 2024 helped Morocco to finish back to back as runner-up in the biggest women’s football tournament in Africa.

Moreover,  statistics showed that Chebbak, who emerged as the WAFCON Topscorer in July 2025, has better individual honours than the two other finalists Ajibade and Mssoudy as can be seen in her *Individual Awards Timeline* below.

Chebbak’s selection in the CAF Women’s Africa XI in  2024 after WAFCON in Morocco and also FIFA FIFPRO Women’s World 11, 2025, can not be ignored by any stretch of argument as the Moroccan forward  earned her prize and deserved her flowers. She was going to be upstaged in the final bend when the selectors reduced the list to just three players including her fellow Moroccan, Sanaa Mssoudy and Super Falcons captain Rasheedat Ajibade who led the Nigeria team to win the 10th CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco last July.

Sentiments aside, neither Mssoudy nor Ajibade, who emerged the Player of the Tournament after scooping three Woman Of The Match (WOTM) awards during the biennial women’s football tournament last July in Morocco could have displaced Chebbak if the contributions of each of the players who made the final list are taken into consideration.

Football fans and journalists who followed the last WAFCON matches can attest to what was known as ‘Chebbak Effect’ in the Atlas Lionesses team in the six matches Morocco played in the competition as she carried the weight of the team on her shoulder.

Chebbak did not only play well across six matches for Morocco, she claimed the Topscorer’s title after scoring five goals in the competition. Only Senegal’s Nguenar Ndiaye came close with four goals while Ibtissam Jraïdi (Morocco), Chinwendu Ihezuo (Nigeria), Barbra Banda (Zambia) and Racheal Kundananji (Zambia) scored three goals each.

In fact, Chebbak’s contributions to Morocco’s impressive runs in the last WAFCON final can only be compared to the big impact Super Falcons forward, Esther Okoronkwo played in the emergence of Nigeria as the champion of the last WAFCON in Morocco.

The AFC Toronto forward emerged as Nigeria’s talisman from the quarter-final stage against Zambia as Okoronkwo’s virtuoso performance sparked the Super Falcons to a 5-0 demolition of Zambia’s Copper Queens loaded with superstars like Banda, Kundananji, Grace Chanda and others.

During the epic quarter finals at Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca, she scored once and created two assists in the 5-0 demolition of Zambia to advance the Falcons to the semi finals. Her standout showing came in the explosive final against host nation Morocco, where she scored from the spot to ignite Nigeria’s comeback and provided the game-winning assist for the 3-2 triumph.

In six games, the Abia-born Nigeria-American footballer contributed six assists and scored a crucial goal, her composure and class on full display. Her standout showing came in the final against host nation Morocco, where she scored from the spot to ignite Nigeria’s comeback and provided the game-winning assist for the 3-2 triumph.

For this reason, many people including accredited journalists who covered the competition in Morocco disagreed in the choice of the Falcons’ skipper as the Player of the Tournament at the expense of teammate  Okoronkwo if consistency and performance are the yardstick to select WOTM and Player of the Tournament respectively.

Many including Okoronkwo herself also raised eyebrows when she was not shortlisted in the final three candidates for the CAF African Women’s Footballer of the Year 2025 title and in her absence the most likely to be crowned “African Football Queen” is definitely Ghizlane Chebbak of Morocco and Al Hilal Ladies of Saudi Arabia.

*Ghizlane Chebbak Individual Awards Timeline*:

*African Women’s Footballer of the Year (1):2025*

*FIFA FIFPRO Women’s World 11 (1): 2025

*Moroccan Women’s Championship Best Player (3): 2018, 2020, 2022*

*Moroccan Women’s Championship Top Scorer (5): 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2023

*Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Best Player (1): 2022*

*Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Top Scorer (2): 2022, 2024

*Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament (2): 2022, 2024*

*CAF Women’s Champions League Team of the Tournament (1): 2023

*IFFHS Women’s CAF Best Player of the Year (1): 2022*

*IFFHS CAF Women’s Team of The Year (1): 2022

*CAF Women’s Africa XI (1): 2024*