Achraf Hakimi

The season in numbers

All competitions

5 goals, 10 assists across about 30 games

Ligue 1

4 goals, 6 assists, Team of the Season

Champions League

3 goals, 5 assists in 9 games

UCL passing record

1,308 completed passes at 93.5%, most in the competition

Awards

6th at Ballon d'Or, 2025 CAF Player of the Year, FIFPro World 11

What Luis Enrique did with the full-back

Hakimi wasn't landing at Paris as an unknown in 2021. He already had a Champions League with Real Madrid as a youngster, a Serie A title at Inter, a World Cup semi-final ahead of him with Morocco. The market knew his level. What nobody knew yet was that he could become something else.

August 2024, Luis Enrique is starting his second Paris season. The Spanish coach does not treat Hakimi as a full-back. He drops him into what tactical analysts call 'adaptive positionism': Hakimi inverts into the half-space when the right winger stays wide, stays wide when the winger cuts in, turns into a box-to-box midfielder when the shape calls for it. At Salzburg, Anfield, Villa Park, the Emirates, Munich, his positional heatmaps never look the same two matches in a row.

Hakimi summed it up better than any analyst. 'Luis Enrique has changed the way the football world looks at me and Nuno Mendes through his use of full-backs. He showed us another way to play football.' That's not a polite line. That's the clean description of his season.

The numbers of a defender who isn't one anymore

Across 2024-25 all comps, Hakimi finishes on 5 goals and 10 assists from defence. In Ligue 1, 4 goals and 6 assists, Team of the Season per Opta and UNFP. In the Champions League, 3 goals and 5 assists in 9 matches, a rare level of production for a defender at this stage of the competition.

The line people miss. In 2024-25, he completes more passes than any other player in the Champions League. 1,308 balls delivered, 93.5% accuracy. More than any midfielder. More than any centre-back. The reason is simple: Luis Enrique trusts him to clean up the last touch when Paris build from the back, the way you would trust a Busquets.

All of this with a top speed clocked at 35.60 km/h, fastest at PSG, seventh in Ligue 1. On Friday February 7, 2025, before PSG-Monaco, the club confirms his extension to 2029, the same evening as Vitinha and Nuno Mendes. The contract makes him the highest-paid full-back in world football.

The proof that Luis Enrique no longer sees him as a conventional full-back lands against Aston Villa in the quarter-final first leg on April 9 at the Parc. Facing Marcus Rashford's threat over the top, the coach drops Hakimi a line deeper to mark Jacob Ramsey. Doué, in his usual spot up front, jumps Lucas Digne. Nuno Mendes stays back as the spare man. Paris run a 5-v-4 on the halfway line and a 5-v-6 closer to goal. The plan holds. 3-1 to Paris. Across the whole campaign, PSG finish second in the competition for final-third regains (75, behind Bayern) and rack up 97 midfield-third tackles. Hakimi is one of the pillars of that balance between going forward and locking the ball down.

Key moments

Five moments from Hakimi's revolution at full-back. A contract, three knockout goals, one ranking.

1. 2025-02-07

   Contract extension to 2029

   Friday evening, before PSG-Monaco. Paris confirms his extension to 2029, the same evening as Vitinha and Nuno Mendes. The deal makes him the highest-paid full-back in world football. Tactical signal as much as financial.

2. 2025-04-15

   Villa Park, 11th minute

   Quarter-final second leg at Villa Park. Hakimi follows up Martínez's parry and finishes in the 11th minute. Villa win 3-2 on the night, PSG go through 5-4 on aggregate.

3. 2025-05-07

   Arsenal, semi-final 2nd leg, Player of the Match

   72nd minute at the Parc against Arsenal. Dembélé lays it off, Hakimi finishes with the outside of the foot. 2-1, final booked. UEFA name him Player of the Match.

4. 2025-05-31

   Munich, 12th minute, no celebration

   Munich final against Inter. Doué delivery, Hakimi back-heel, 1-0 in the 12th minute. He refuses to celebrate, out of respect for his former club. PSG finish 5-0.

5. 2025-09-22

   Ballon d'Or, 6th place

   Ballon d'Or ceremony. Hakimi finishes 6th. Highest finish ever by a Moroccan player. Two months later, he is voted CAF African Player of the Year.

Munich, 12th minute, no celebration

Before the final, two goals already locked in. On April 15 at Villa Park, Hakimi finishes off a Martínez parry in the 11th minute, the goal that keeps Paris in a wild match Villa win 3-2 but PSG edge 5-4 on aggregate. On May 7 at the Parc, 72nd minute of the semi-final second leg against Arsenal, Dembélé lays it off, Hakimi finishes with the outside of his foot. Paris's second, tie sealed, UEFA Player of the Match. On May 24, Coupe de France final against Reims, he scores again, on a Barcola assist in the 43rd minute. That's his 8th goal of the season, his best-ever PSG tally. L'Équipe rate him 8 out of 10 and open his match-rating card with a question: 'Who is better than the Moroccan in his position today?'

Then Munich. 12th minute. Vitinha feeds Doué, low cross at the far post, Hakimi slides in front of Bastoni, back-heel, goal. 1-0. The cameras look for him. He doesn't lift his arms. He doesn't smile. He wore the black-and-blue of Inter from 2020 to 2021, won the Scudetto there, and refuses to celebrate against his old club.

The moment is short. Ten seconds at most. But that is the clip that travels for 48 hours afterwards, further than the raw 5-0 scoreline.

The recognition

Season over, the individual-awards season kicks in. September 2025, Ballon d'Or ceremony: Hakimi finishes 6th. Highest ever finish for a Moroccan. Mustapha Hadji, the only Moroccan voted African Player of the Year before him, publicly calls that rank 'a scandal', arguing Hakimi deserved higher.

The Athletic frames the case the same way, with a number attached. 'Full-back is arguably the hardest position from which to win the Ballon d'Or. Too removed from the attack to deliver the headline numbers of the forwards, yet not deep enough for the last-ditch heroics that gritty centre-backs are celebrated for.' The publication still flags Hakimi as the man best placed to break that ceiling. Last season, 18% of his Champions League open-play touches came in the attacking third. A goal in the quarter-final, a goal in the semi-final, a goal in the final. Luis Enrique put it plainly at his press conference: 'He is becoming more all-rounded, especially on the defensive side.'

November 2025, the answer comes from Rabat. Hakimi is voted CAF African Player of the Year, ahead of Salah and Osimhen. First defender to win the award since 1973, first Moroccan since Hadji in 1998. FIFPro slots him into the World 11. Ligue 1 Team of the Season, UCL Team of the Tournament, Club World Cup Team of the Tournament. Four different XIs in the same calendar year.