NIGERIAN football stars shortlisted for the 2023 Confederation of African Football Awards are expected to arrive in Marrakech, Morocco on Sunday (today).
Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen who is the favourite to clinch the award for the first time is nominated for the prestigious award alongside Egyptian captain Mohammed Salah and Achraf Hakimi from Morocco.
The 24-year-old has been in fine form for Napoli in the past 12 months guiding the Serie A club to their first league victory in 33 years and scoring a league-high 26 goals in 32 Serie A games last season, and 31 goals across all competitions.
For his impressive performance in Italy, the Nigerian won the Serie A Best Striker, Paolo Rossi and Italian Footballers’ Association Player of The Year awards.
He also finished eighth in the recent Ballon d’Or award shortlist and is in contention for the Globe Soccer award.
For the national team, Osimhen helped Nigeria qualify for the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast and finished the qualification series as top scorer with 10 goals.
Nwankwo Kanu is the last Nigeria player to be named Africa Footballer of the Year by CAF when he won in 1999 and Saido Mane is the reigning football king of the continent.
Rashidi Yekini, Emmanuel Amuneke and Victor Ikpeba are the only other Nigerians who were previously named the best players on the continent.
Kanu, however, remains the only one to have won the award twice in 1996 and 1999.
Other Nigerian stars nominated for awards are Asisat Oshoala, Chiamaka Nnadozie and Deborah Abiodun.
Oshoala, a five-time winner of CAF women’s top prize will hope to beat Zambia’s Barbra Banda and Thembi Kgatlana of South Africa for a record sixth crown.
Oshoala helped Barcelona claim the UEFA Women’s Champions League, while also guiding the Catalans to a league victory as they went unbeaten the whole season and is the favourite to claim the award for a record sixth time.
The duo Nnadozie and Abiodun will hope to secure pole position in their respective categories at the award ceremony billed for the Palais des Congres, Movenpick, Marrakech, Morocco.
Nnadozie will have Khadija Er-Rmichi from Morocco and South Africa’s Andile Dlamini to contend with for the Goalkeeper of the Year award in the women’s category while Abiodun has Ghana’s Comfort Yeboah and Nesryne El Chad also from Morocco for the Young Player of the Year award in the women class.
The Super Falcons will also hope to win the National Team of the Year award for women. They are up against Morocco and South Africa for the award.