Super Eagles team coordinator and chairman of the Bauchi Football Association, Patrick Pascal, has declared Ademola Lookman as the overwhelming favourite to win the 2024 African Footballer of the Year award.

Pascal, formerly of Royal Antwerp, believes there will be widespread condemnation against the Confederation of African Football (CAF) should the award be given to a different candidate.

“If Ademola Lookman doesn’t win this CAF award, journalists will finish CAF. The whole world will finish them,” he told Brila.

“What are you going to tell people? So Ademola Lookman stands a good chance to win.”

Last month, CAF released a 10-man shortlist for the 2024 African Footballer of the Year award, with two Super Eagles stars, Ademola Lookman and William Troost-Ekong, making the list.

The remaining eight candidates include Amine Gouiri (Algeria), Edmond Tapsoba (Cameroon), Simon Adingra (Cote d'Ivoire), Chancel Mbemba (DR Congo), Serhou Guirassy (Guinea), Achraf Hakimi (Morocco), Soufiane Rahimi (Morocco), and Ronwen Williams (South Africa).

Lookman has been tipped to succeed Victor Osimhen as the next winner of the African Footballer of the Year award following his heroics for both club and country over the past year.

The Super Eagles winger starred in the Europa League final, scoring a historic hat-trick against Bayer Leverkusen to guide Gian Piero Gasperini's side to their first-ever European title.

Lookman finished last season with 17 goals and 10 assists across all competitions for La Dea.

On the international stage, he netted three goals at the 2023 African Cup of Nations, helping Nigeria reach the final against the hosts Ivory Coast.

He capped his remarkable year by placing 14th on the 2024 Ballon d'Or rankings.