Victor Osimhen has made it to the final 12 shortlist of the male category of the 67th Annual Ballon d’Or ceremony, which is scheduled for 30th October 2023. He remains the only African player to make it to the last 12 of the men’s category in this year’s edition.
This is not the first time a Nigerian will be nominated for this award. Eight Nigerian players, male and female, have been nominated on 11 different occasions in the history of the Ballon d’Or, out of which 4 did not receive any vote.
In this year’s shortlist, two Nigerian players were nominated in both categories, which makes Nigeria the first country in Africa to be nominated in both categories of the award.
Asisat Oshoala was nominated for the award in the last edition and made it to the new list for the latest edition of the award.
The award will be given to the best player from the last season, which started on August 1, 2022 and ended on July 31, 2023. This is the second time the award will be given by season instead of year’s calendar as it has always been.
Victor Osimhen is currently ranked the best Napoli player for his outstanding performance in the Serie A, helping the club secure the Serie A title after 33 years. His goal contribution also earned him the Serie A Golden Boot. He is also the 15th all-time scorer for Napoli with 62 goals. He is competing with the likes of Lionel Messi, Erling Halaand and Julian Alvarez, who seem to be at the forefront of winning the award.
Lionel Messi won three trophies. This includes the World Cup, Ligue 1 and Trophee des Champions. He scored 21 club goals and 6 goals in the World Cup.
Erling Halaand, who is one of the six players nominated from Manchester City, scored 52 goals last season and won the Champions League, the Premier League, and the FA Cup.
Julian Alvarez made a great impact on the winning of the World Cup for his country Argentina and also for his club. This earned him three (3) trophies: the
Champions League, the Premier League, and the FA Cup. Alvarez scored 17 goals for Manchester City.
In the female Ballon d’Or category of the award, Asisiat Oshoala demonstrated an incredible performance for Barcelona with 27 goals and won the women’s Champions League, Liga F, and the Spanish Women’s Cup.
Her race to win the Ballon dór becomes difficult as she competes with the performance of the likes of Aitana Bonmati, Ewa Pajor, Alexander Popp, and Kadidiatou, narrowing her chances of winning the award.
However, Aitana Bonmati seems to be closest to winning the award after winning the World Cup with Spain, the Champions League, Liga F, and the Spanish Women’s Cup for her club, Barcelona. She won the Golden Ball at the World Cup and is currently Europe’s best player. Winning the Women’s World Cup increases her chances of winning the award
The NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said, “We are indeed very proud of the nominations of our players Victor Osimhen and Asisat Oshoala for the Ballon d’Or. It’s the first time that players from the same country are nominated for both male and female categories, and this makes us proud. It also underscores the stellar careers that both players have at the moment, and we pray that God will continue to take them from glory to glory.
“These nominations will also, no doubt, encourage other players everywhere to be pivotal for their clubs and also for the National team anytime they are on the international road”.
The nomination of Victor Osimhen and Asisat Oshoala brings Nigeria back to world football reckoning because the last nominee before 2022, when Asisat was nominated, was Sunday Oliseh in 1998, a 24-year interval.
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