Football legend Rigobert Song has delivered a controversial assessment of top rated African players as the 2025 AFCON continues to take shape after commencing on December 21.
The multiple time AFCON winner with Cameroon in an interview with ESPN shared that players like Manchester United’s Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo are world class players.
However, he didn’t rank Nigerian duo Ademola Lookman of Atalanta and Victor Osimhen of Galatasaray as world class players as he did with the aforementioned duo.
Lookman scored a fine goal in Nigeria’s 2-1 win over Tanzania in the opening round of games at the 2025 AFCON and won the 2024 CAF Men’s Footballer of the Year Award.
Osimhen on the other hand, has scored 32 goals in 42 appearances in all competitions for Turkish side Galatasaray but Song still didn’t tag either player as a world class player.
Aside Mbeumo and Diallo, Song ranked Mohamed Salah, Riyad Mahrez, Achraf Hakimi, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Omar Marmoush as world class. Scroll down to watch video
Are these AFCON players world class? 🌍
Rigobert Song has his say 👀 pic.twitter.com/K2aafjsoo6
— ESPN Africa (@ESPNAfrica) December 26, 2025
