Eighth place Victor Osimhen set new standard for Nigeria in 2023 Ballon d'or

By -

Victor Osimhen has become the highest ranked Nigerian in the Ballon d'or history having finished eighth in the 2023 edition of the award.

Napoli striker Osimhen broke the long standing achievement of Kanu Nwankwo, who finished 11th in the Ballon d'or ranking at the age of 20 in 1996 for performance with Ajax and Nigeria.

Osimhen 24, won the Capocannoniere last season having scored 26 goals to finish top scorer in the Seri A while leading Napoli to a first Scudetto success in 33years.

He also helped the club reach a first-ever UEFA Champions League quarter finals while also finishing top scorer in the 2023 AFCON qualifiers with ten goals, doubling the tally of the next player in the list.

Osimhen became the eighth Nigerian to be nominated for the prestigious award that celebrates individual brilliance, when his name was included in the 30 man shortlist released in September. He comes after 

• Finidi George (1995)

• Daniel Amokachi (1995)

• Austin Jay-Jay Okocha (1995)

• Nwankwo Kanu (1996, 1999)

• Victor Ikpeba (1997)

• Sunday Oliseh (1998)

• Asisat Oshoala (2022, 2023)

• Victor Osimhen (2023)

A massive achievement for the striker and a huge congratulations to himself and his Napoli teammate and partner in crime Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who also finished 17th in the pool.


Hassan Afolabi

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ralf Rangnick proffered a permanent solution but United choose to make more casualties with Erik Ten Hag

By -
Image
Ralf Rangnick appeared to have unraveled the puzzle at Manchester United during his short stint as the club's interim manager but the hierarchy did not take heed to his priceless advice. Albeit the German did not enjoy the best of time in the helm of affairs in Old Trafford, Rangnick, who had proven to be more of a administrative minded man prior to his appointment at the club did left blueprints that could have healed the club completely. Looking back and you'll realize it could have been more worth it had speculations of him becoming the club's Director after leaving the Coaching role come to pass. Even in his early days as a professional football coach, Rangnick did not have a reputation of thriving when the stake is high but he flourishes more in an environment that gives him the avenue to build from scratch. The notion was proven truth during his time at Stuttgart, Hannover and even Schalke, where he helped all these teams finesse nightmares into glamour. His appointme
Read more

Doping in sports and the popular culprits in football

By -
Image
Doping in sports is a huge crime as it damages its credibility, and athletes are viewed to have committed an offense when they test positive for illegal performance-enhancing drugs (PED). What is doping ? According to Merriam Webster defines doping as the use of a substance (such as an anabolic steroid or erythropoietin) or technique (such as blood doping) to illegally improve athletic performance. In sports, such action is regarded as cheat, and grave consequences always come with it. Not only that, but on the players' part and their safety, as in the long run, such substances have a long-lasting side effect on the health of the players. Why do athletes dope (take illegal performance-enhancing drugs (PED)) ? There are several reasons take illegal performance-enhancing drugs, and it also depends on the type of sports the athletes in question do. The majority of the reasons is to boost performance. Athletes are also tempted when injured and do not have enough time to recover before
Read more

A sign of what is to come but no excuse for Chelsea's late capitulation in the London derby

By -
Image
Chelsea ended a run of three straight home defeats to Arsenal in an enthralling London derby match in the Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening. While many will see it as a positive omen for the host, which is rightly so, it was very poor game management by both the players and the manager to allow the visitors snatch a point later on the night. Arsenal was there for the taking. It was the worst display by Mikel Arteta's side in recent years and despite having a two goal cushion, Mauricio Pochettino's side were unable to see out the win from a very comfortable position. Cole Palmer and Mykaylo Mudryk continue to show signs of finally settling into their rhythm under Mauricio Pochettino, much to the delight of the home support as the Blues were all over their rival from the North for the first 70 minutes in the Bridge. Both players also scored in either half, with Mykaylo Mudryk scoring his first ever Chelsea goal in the Stamford Bridge with a wonderful cross-cum-shot, which caugh
Read more