By Emmanuel Uffot
Victor Osimhen, the highly rated Super Eagles forward who currently plays for 2022 Serie A Champions Napoli, is among the four Nigerian National Team players that made the final shortlisted CAF Award list for Monday December 11, 2023 ceremony coming up in Marrakech, Morocco.
Osimhen who remains one of the hottest African striker in Europe and who helped Napoli to win the Italian Serie A after 33 years with over 30 goals in all competitions last season,will be vying for African Footballer of the Year Men’s Category with Egyptian National Team talisman and Liverpool forward Mohammed Salah and Paris Saint- Germain defender and Moroccan Skipper Achraf Hakimi.
On the road to his nomination by CAF which bookmakers are already tipping him to clinch the coveted African Footballer of the Year Award at the expense of the duo of Salah, a one time winner and Hakimi, Osimhen recently won the the Italian Serie A Footballers Association Player of the Year Awards.
He also entered the book recently with a nomination for the Ballon d’ Or and is said to be in contest for the Globe Soccer Award.
A Nigerian player Kanu Nwankwo, last won the award in 1999.
The other three from the Nigerian Falcons are, Nigerian Female star striker and Barcelona Femeni forward Asisat Oshoala.
The Nigerian Female football star has won the African Footballer of the Year Award in female category over three times.
She will be contesting with Thembi Kgatlana of South Africa and Barbara Banda of Zambia.
The trio were in the Nigerian, South Africa and Zambian National Teams that represented Africa at the last Female World Cup in Australia.
Another Falcon’s player that is looking forward to laying her hands on the Goalkeeper of the Year award ( Female) is Chiamaka Nnadozie.
The Nigerian Falcons keeper who was a delight to watch at the last Female World Cup, is contesting with Khadija Er- Rmichi of Morocco and Andile Dlamini of South Africa.
For the Young Player of the Year ( Female), Deborah Abiodun, formerly of the Under 21 female national team of Nigeria and key member of the current Falcons that shook the football world at last Female World Cup made the final list of nominees.
She is vying for the award on that category with Nesryne El – Chad of Morocco and Comfort Yeboah of Ghana.
To complete the nominations of Nigeria is the Super Falcons. The Nigerian Female National Team has been nominated into the category of National Team of the Year ( Female) alongside, Morocco and South Africa.
The trio represented Africa at the female World Cup and all gave good account of themselves at the competition.
For the National Team of the Year ( Men), the final nominees are surprise inclusion Gambia, that will be slugging it out with Morocco and Senegal.
For taking Africa to the ever first semi- final at the Men’s World Cup, the odds favour the Atlas Lions of Morocco to pick the award in that category.
A glimpse into the players, coaches and teams that have been nominated, shows that Morocco top the chart with 12 nominations followed closely by South Africa with nine ( 9) nominations. Nigeria has five, Senegal and Egypt have four nominations.
Countries that have also had their names listed for the awards in the 13 categories include, Cameroun, Algeria, Ghana, Botswana, Namibia, DR Congo and Zambia.
Meanwhile, CAF has extended invitations to six Nigerian football legends to attend the Monday annual football award ceremony in Morocco.
They are, Jay Jay Okocha, Emmanuel Emenike, Mikel Obi all former Super Eagles players and Perpetual Nkwocha, Precious Dede, Mercy Slide and Onome Ebi of Super Falcons.
The ultimate winner, is decided by votes from a panel made up of CAF Technical Committee, Media, Captains of member associations and clubs involved in the group stages of the inter club competitions.
A Glance Into The Categories And Nominees
PLAYER OF THE YEAR ( Men)
1, Victor Osimhen ( Nigeria, Napoli)
2, Mohammed Salah ( Egypt, Liverpool)
3, Achraf Hakimi ( Morocco, PSG)
PLAYER OF THE YEAR ( Women)
1, Asisat Oshoala ( Nigeria, Barcelona)
2 Thembi Kgatlana ( South Africa, Racing Louisville)
3, Barbara Banda ( Zambia, Shanghai Shengi)
GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR ( Men)
1, Andre Onana ( Cameroun, Manchester United)
2, Mohammed El- Shenawy ( Egypt, Al Ahly)
3, Yassine Bounou ( Morocco, Al Hilal)
GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR (Women )
1, Chiamaka Nnadozie ( Nigeria, Paris FC)
2, Khadija Er-Rmichi ( Morocco, AS FAT Rabat)
3, Andile Dlamini ( South Africa ( Mamelodi Sundowns)
NATIONAL TEAM OF THE YEAR ( Men)
1, Gambia
2, Morocco
3, Senagal
NATIONAL TEAM OF THE YEAR ( Women)
1, Nigeria
2, South Africa
3, Morroco
COACH OF THE YEAR ( Men)
1, Abdelhak Benchika ( Algeria, Simba)
2, Aliou Cisse ( Senegal)
3, Walid Regragui ( Morocco)
COACH OF THE YEAR ( Women )
1, Reynald Pedros ( Morocco)
2, Desire Ellis ( South Africa)
3, Jerry Tshabalala ( D
South Africa)
CLUB OF THE YEAR ( Men)
1, Al Ahly ( Egypt)
2, Wydad Athletic Club ( Morocco)
3, Mamelodi Sundowns ( South Africa)
CLUB OF THE YEAR ( Women)
1, AS FAR ( Morocco)
2, Sporting Casablanca ( Morocco)
3, Mamelodi Sundowns ( South Africa)
YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR ( Men)
1, Lamine Camara ( Senegal, Metz)
2, Amara Diouf ( Senegal, Metz)
3, Abdessamad Ezzalzouli ( Morocco, Real Betis)
YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR ( Women)
1, Deborah Abiodun ( Nigeria, Pittsburgh)
2, Nesryne El- Chad ( Morocco, Lille)
3, Comfort Yeboah ( Ghana, Ampem Darkoa)
INTER CLUB PLAYER OF THE YEAR ( Men)
1, Fiston Mayele ( DR Congo, Pyramids)
2, Peter Shalulile ( Namibia, Mamelodi Sundowns)
3, Percy Tan ( South Africa, Al Ahly)
INTER CLUB PLAYER OF THE YEAR ( Women)
1, Refilwe Tholakele ( Botswana, Mamelodi Sundowns)
2, Fatima Tagnaout ( Morocco, ( AS FAR)
3, Leborang Ramalepe ( South Africa, Mamelodi Sundowns).
