“They always say third time lucky,” Ademola Lookman said with a grin, the match ball tucked under his right arm after a career-defining night in Dublin.
He had arrived in Ireland that week having already tasted defeat in two finals in 2024 – the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast with Nigeria and the Coppa Italia against Juventus with Atalanta.
But on this night in May, as he stood with the Europa League trophy after his historic hat-trick against the previously unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen, his words carried more weight than just the immediate context.
For Lookman’s career itself had followed a similar pattern.
After spells in England and Germany that promised much but delivered inconsistently, it was in Italy – his third European country – where the 27-year-old forward finally found his true calling.
The Dublin triumph was just the beginning of what would become the defining year of his career, culminating in being crowned the 2024 African Footballer of the Year in Marrakech, Morocco.
“Just over four years ago, I failed in front of the world. Fast forward four years, and I’m the best player in Africa,” he said in his acceptance speech after receiving the award in Morocco.
“I want to say to the young children and people watching this: don’t let your failures weigh you down to the point they break your wings. Matter of fact, turn your pain into your power and continue to fight.”
Growing up
The son of Nigerian immigrants, Lookman grew up in the London Borough of Wandsworth, the only boy and only UK-born member of his family.
His early life was marked by financial hardship, with his mother working multiple cleaning jobs while his father worked in Nigeria to support the family.
“Life was tough growing up. There were some nights when I didn’t have… how can I say this? I didn’t have the best of food,” Lookman recalled.
“Everything I could ask of my mum, she gave me. I was happy, but as you get older, you realise how difficult it must have been for her. She was working all kinds of jobs, cleaning jobs and anything she could take. She was always looking for work.”
Yet amid these challenges, young Ademola showed remarkable resilience and focus. At St Thomas the Apostle College in Peckham, he excelled academically, consciously choosing to avoid negative influences in his low-income neighbourhood.
“Of course, there’s pressure from lots of areas. But, even as a kid, you need to make decisions that don’t put you or your family at risk,” he explained.
“I took school very seriously, and for my GCSEs, I got five As, four Bs and one C. “
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