What will 2024 hold for some of Africa’s brightest rising stars?
The year ahead is an important one for African sport, as an Olympic year for one, but we are set to see significant growth in basketball and American football on the continent.
While Africa has established stars already in several sports, particularly soccer, we have picked 15 athletes who are not quite household names yet, but destined to prove in 2024 that they are ready to level up.
Jonathan Kuminga (DR Congo, Golden State Warriors)
Goma-born Kuminga has taken on an increased leadership role for the NBA’s Warriors, particularly in the absence of the indefinitely suspended Draymond Green.
The Warriors, who have won four NBA championships since 2015, are gradually transitioning from a team relying on veterans to one with a new generation capable of picking up where the likes of Green, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson will eventually leave off.
Few young players in the team are better placed than 21-year-old Kuminga to help carry the Dub Nation’ playoff hopes for this stopgap season.
Khaman Maluach (South Sudan, NBA Africa Academy)
There are many talented basketball players in Africa ready to put the world on notice, but none more so than 17-year-old 7-foot-2 center Maluach, born in Rumbek and raised in Uganda.
Maluach, who started playing basketball in late 2019, is Africa’s most complete homegrown prospect. Always a strong defensive player capable of getting blocks, he has significantly improved the offensive side of his game – particularly his shooting – and grown into a leadership role as the captain of the NBA Africa Academy.
He has been widely dubbed ‘the next Joel Embiid‘ and is being recruited by Embiid’s alma mater Kansas, among the likes of Kentucky, UCLA, Duke and Baylor. In fact, Joe Touomou, the coach who discovered the Philadelphia 76ers star in Yaoundé, told ESPN that Maluach is “10 times better” than Embiid was at the same age.
Maluach helped South Sudan qualify for the Olympics, and with a showcase lined up against Team USA in London beforehand, he will likely have a chance to prove himself against the best in the world – one that if his current trajectory is anything to go by, he will not squander.
Thierry Darlan (Central African Republic, G League Ignite)
Maluach is likely to enter the NBA draft in 2025, but before that, Central African Republic guard Darlan is expected to be picked in the next draft.
Teammate Babacar Sané will likely join him and Nigeria’s Adem Bona of UCLA also stands a strong chance of being picked. However, Darlan stands out above them for this list because, having only just returned from a 10-month injury layoff, he has likely not yet showcased the best of his ability.
Do not be surprised if, by the end of 2024, you see Darlan playing at a high level in the NBA.
Jana El Alfy (Egypt, UConn Huskies)
A ruptured achilles tendon in July ruled El Alfy out of the 2023-24 collegiate season, but she remains one of the best women’s basketball prospects in memory to come out of Africa.
El Alfy was recruited by top schools all over the US before choosing UConn, the most successful women’s program in the country with 11 national championships.
For the 6-foot-5 forward, life has not gone as planned so far a year into her stay in the US, but once she is back to full fitness, expect her shooting and rebounding ability to make an instant impact.
Kwity Paye (Liberia/Guinea, Indianapolis Colts)
It is easy to forget that Paye, who at the time of writing has a career best 8.5 sacks for the season, is only 25 years old and only in his third season in the NFL.
Each year has been significantly better than the last for Paye, who was born in Guinea as a refugee from civil war in Liberia and then subsequently moved to the US.
The former Michigan defensive end is well on his way to having a career to justify his first round draft selection in 2021 and the upcoming year will likely be one in which he asserts his status as a star of the league.
Kader Kohou (Côte d’Ivoire, Miami Dolphins)
The Miami Dolphins cornerback from Abidjan went undrafted out of Texas A&M in 2022, but has proven this season that he is worthy of a spot in the league and has potential to grow into a top cornerback.
His technique has significantly improved over the course of this season and 2024 may well be the year the Dolphins’ gamble truly pays off.
CJ Okoye (Nigeria, LA Chargers)
Several homegrown Nigerian players have had the opportunity to learn the ropes of the NFL by participating in practice squads over the last two years, but CJ Okoye in particular looks capable of being a legitimate NFL player.
This may even be the year his dream comes true, given that according to NBC Sports, he made a sack in preseason for the LA Chargers in 2023 without even knowing he had done so.
Emmanuel Okoye (Nigeria, Tennessee Vols)
While much of the talent developed by New York Giants great Osi Umenyiora and his partners in Africa has been added to the NFL IPP roster, some players have gone to the NFL Academy, with Nigeria’s Emmanuel Okoye the most successful to date.
Recruited by top colleges across the US, tight end Okoye committed to Tennessee, and while he has not taken to the field yet, it will not be surprising at all if by the end of 2024, he has not only featured for the Tennessee Vols but made a significant impression on their fans.
Jasper Wiese (South Africa, Leicester Tigers)
Wiese will leave Leicester Tigers at the end of the 2023-24 season and is widely reported to be Japan-bound thereafter.
The 27-cap Springbok loose forward has been a late bloomer, rising up the ranks in his mid 20s to earn his first Springbok cap in 2021. Now, the 28-year-old is a World Cup winner and looks like he could yet hit an even higher gear in his development.
Jesse Kriel (South Africa, Canon Eagles)
Kriel is in the limelight once again after a superb 2023 which saw his hard work for the Springboks recognised to a greater degree than before due to an untimely injury to Lukhanyo Am ahead of the World Cup.
In 2024, the Springboks and Canon Eagles centre is likely to go a step further and assert himself as one of the world’s best rugby players, rather than just one of many components in a great team.
Evelyn Badu (Ghana, Avaldsnes)
Badu, who signed for John Arne Riise’s Avaldsnes off the back of a superb 2021 CAF Women’s Champions League campaign for Hasaacas, has become a regular for the Norwegian club aged 21 and the upcoming year will likely see her transition into one of Africa’s star players.
Ghana have qualified for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco, and alongside usual stars Asisat Oshoala, Thembi Kgatlana and Barbra Banda, keep an eye on the rising Black Queens star.
Pape Daouda Diong (Senegal, AF Darou Salam/Chelsea)
Diong impressed for Senegal at the FIFA U17 World Cup, where he caught the eye of Chelsea, who according to Fabrizio Romano have reached an agreement to sign him once he turns 18 and is eligible to put pen to paper.
The Standard reported that he would likely move to Strasbourg on loan, and while the specifics of his plans for the upcoming year have yet to be revealed, expect him to dazzle wherever he plays with his remarkable ease on the ball and impressive passing range.
Lyle Foster (South Africa, Burnley)
Foster showed glimpses of his star potential in 2023, but this year should see the 2020 Golden Boy award nominee be more consistent.
He picked up a respectable four goals and three assists in his first 11 Premier League appearances despite a tumultuous year and has plenty of room to grow his game yet at the age of 23.
Cameron Saaiman (South Africa)
Dricus du Plessis may be the one grabbing the headlines now, but do not forget that South Africa has another UFC fighter who trained under his watch and was dubbed by Dana White himself as ‘the future’.
Saaiman suffered his first loss against Christian Rodriguez in October, but he has the support system to help him cope and time on his side, having only just turned 23. Expect Saaiman to bounce back strongly in 2024.
Lara van Niekerk (South Africa)
If there is one South African to keep an eye on at the Olympics, it is the 20-year-old swimming phenom who has rivalled Tatjana Schoenmaker for supremacy at breaststroke.
Already the African, Commonwealth and South African 50m long course breaststroke record holder, van Niekerk only needs an Olympic gold to cement herself as a national icon and it would take a brave punter to bet against her.
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