Ademola Lookman and Barbra Banda were respectively anointed on Monday night as the Confederation of African Football's men's and women's player of the year at a lavish awards ceremony in Marrakech.
Lookman, 27, emerged as one of the favourites for the prestigious trophy for his performances in the Nigeria national team on the way to the final at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations at the start of the year.
He boosted his chances with a hat trick for his Italian club side Atalanta in the 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the final in May of the 2024 Europa League.
Since the start of the Serie A season, Lookman has been an integral feature in the team's rise to the top of the table.
"This is something incredible," said Lookman after receiving the award. "To the youth of Africa I say never give up. Turn pain to power."
Banda, 24, claimed her prize after an inspirational first season in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in the United States.
Following her move from the Chinese outfit Shanghai Shengli to Orlando Pride in March, she starred as the side surged to the NWSL Championship.
Banda scored the winner in the final against Washington Spirit and was later named the championship's most valuable player.
In other categories, Cote d'Ivoire won the national men's team of the year for their psychedelic waltz to the Africa Cup of Nations trophy in February.
After suffering a 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea – their worst loss at home in their 64-year history – the Ivorians scraped into the last-16 knockout stages as the fourth of the four best third-placed teams at the tournament.
But they came back from the seemingly dead in the last-16 against defending champions Senegal and Mali in the quarter-finals to live up to their nickname of "Les Revenants" – The Zombies.
They saw off Democratic Republic of Congo in the semis and Nigeria in the final to claim the Cup of Nations for a third time. Unsurprisingly, Emerse Faé, who was appointed during the tournament after the sudden departure of Jean-Louis Gasset, was designated men's coach of the year for masterminding Cote d'Ivoire's voyage to rapture.
Lamia Boumehdi won the equivalent in the women's category for taking TP Mazembe to the 2024 women's Champions League title. Nigeria's women claimed the team of the year after finishing 2024 as Africa's top side in the rankings of world football's governing body Fifa.
