Victor Osimhen is tipped to be the favorite to win the 2023 CAF African Player of the Year award after sensational performances for Napoli and Nigeria over the past 12 months.
The Super Eagles forward is aiming to become the first Nigerian to win the prestigious award since Nwankwo Kanu was named Africa’s Player of the Year in 1999.
Nigerians had to wait for the next 24 years to beat other stars from across the continent to win the coveted award since CAF created the award in 1992 This is the longest period.
Ghana’s Abedi Pele rightly won the inaugural award, but for the next six years, the prestigious position was dominated by Nigerians.
Rashidi Yekini won in 1993 and Emmanuel Amuneke won the title the following year, beating his compatriot Rashidi Yekini and Liberia’s George Weah to come in tied for second place.
Weah won in 1995, but faced stiff challenges from Amunike and Daniel Amokachi, who finished second and third respectively.
The only Nigerian to win the African Player of the Year award twice, Nwankwo Kanu won his first award for his collection in 1996 after leading Africa to its first Olympic gold medal in soccer .
Taribo West was third and Chad’s Japhet N’Drum was second. Victor Ikpeba won the award in 1997, replacing Kanu as Africa’s number one.
However, Nigeria’s two-year reign ended in 1998 when Austin Okocha and Sunday Oliseh narrowly lost to Morocco’s Mustafa Haji.
Although the 1999 race was close, Kanu won two points more than Ghana’s Samuel Kuffour and won the last title ever won by a Nigerian.
Since then, several Nigerians have been close. Okocha finished third in 2003 and 2004 and when he lost to Yaya Toure in 2013 when Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nations, Mikel John Obi felt he should have done more. 4th Nations Cup appearance.
Goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama was the last Nigerian to make the final three in 2014, surprisingly losing out to eventual champion Toure and runner-up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. That’s not the point.
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For the first time in nine years, Osimhen becomes the first Nigerian to reach the podium at the CAF Awards.
But can the Napoli striker go one step further and break his 24-year curse of putting Nigeria’s green and white flag back in the African Player of the Year award?
