Paris Saint-Germain's Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi speaks after receiving the Africa Player of the Year award during the 2025 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Awards in Sale, Morocco on Wednesday night.
Image: Abdel Majid Bziouat/AFP
Paris Saint-Germain’s Moroccan right back Achraf Hakimi walked away with the 2025 African Footballer of the Year at the Confederation of African Football (Caf) Awards in Sale, Morocco on Wednesday night.
It was a big night for the 27-year-old defender, who helped PSG win their first-ever UEFA Champions League crown earlier this year.
During an impressive 2024/25 season, Hakimi’s PSG also won the UEFA Super Cup, Coupe de France and French Super Cup last term. In July, they were beaten by Chelsea in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States. Despite that loss, it was almost a perfect year for Hakimi and the French giants.
"It's really an honour for me to win this prestigious trophy," he said after picking up his award. "This trophy is not just for me – it is for all the Africans that have dreams."
Hakimi’s success on the pitch comes at a time when he is still facing rape allegations from 2023. In March 2023, less than a year after Morocco had made history by becoming the first-ever African nation to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup, Hakimi was charged with raping a 24-year-old woman.
The woman alleged she had met the footballer on Instagram and invited her to his home in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt while his wife and children were away on holiday. She told police that while at the house, Hakimi had started kissing her and making non-consensual sexual advances, before raping her.
Hakimi denied the allegations, calling them a “lie”, and insisted he would never do such a thing.
Three months ago, prosecutors in France asked that PSG’s Moroccan international be tried in criminal court for the alleged rape. "It is now up to the investigating magistrate to make a decision within the framework of his order," the prosecutors said at the time.
Currently, there’s no fixed public timeline for when the investigating judge will decide whether to send Hakimi to trial. For the time being, Hakimi remains available to play for PSG, and will be in action at the Africa Cup of Nations in his home country next month.
He is also expected to play a key role for Morocco at next year’s World Cup in North America.
IOL Sport