By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Nigerian international Ademola Lookman finished 14th in the voting for the Men's Ballon d'Or, ranking above notable players including Cole Palmer, Nico Williams, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and 12 others.
Manchester City's Rodri won the Ballon d'Or, Real Madrid and Brazil's Vinicius Junior came second, while Real Madrid's England's Jude Bellingham came third.
The final rankings released by the organizers showed Lookman, who plays for Atalanta, in 14th place. Spain's Nico Williams finished 15th and Granit Xhaka finished 16th.
Arsenal's Bukayo Saka is in 21st, behind Antonio Rudiger and Ruben Dias. Chelsea's William Saliba finished 24th, with teammates Palmer and Arsenal's Declan Rice in 25th and 26th respectively.
LookmanHis rise to the top 15 resulted from his impressive season, where he scored 11 goals for Atalanta in Serie A. On 22 May 2024, he achieved a historic feat by scoring the first hat-trick of his career in the Europa League final in Dublin. Arena led Atalanta to a 3–0 win over Bayer Leverkusen and secured the club's first European trophy. This feat made him the first player to score a hat-trick in a single-leg men's European final since Pierino Prati in 1969.
LookmanThe Ballon d'Or nomination on 4 September 2024 came not only for his contribution to Atalanta's UEFA Europa League victory, but also for his role in Nigeria's trip to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final.
His important goals included both strikes in Nigeria's 2–0 round-of-16 win over Cameroon and the only goal in their 1–0 quarter-final win over Angola. Although Nigeria lost 2–1 to Ivory Coast in the final, Lookman and his teammates were awarded the Member of the Order of the Niger for their outstanding performances.
Lookman is a versatile and explosive winger with a dynamic playing style. He is known for making direct, fast runs at the opposition defence, causing problems with his quick feet and close control.
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