The football fraternity in Nigeria is no doubt in a joyous mood and the reason is not far-fetched. After 24 years of waiting, the poster-boy of the country’s football, Victor James Osimhen, on Monday December 11, in Marrakech, emerged as the next King of football on the continent. The Napoli star striker edged out the duo of Mo Salah of Liverpool and Egypt and Achraf Hakimi of PSG and Morocco to win the prestigious African Footballer of the Year Award.
It was indeed a bountiful night for Nigerian football because apart from Oismhen, Asisat Oshola won her sixth award as Africa’s best female player, Chiamaka Nnadozie emerged as the Best Goalkeeper while the Super Falcons won the Best Female National Team award.
Osimhen’s success didn’t come to many as a surprise because he had done enough to clinch the award. Beginning from 2017 when he debuted as a professional player at VFL Wolfsburg of Germany, his career has been on the ascendency. It is necessary to mention here that after spending a year and a half at the German club, he joined Serie A giants, Napoli in 2020 for a club record fee of 70m euros.
To justify the huge amount of money splashed on him, Osimhen won Serie A’s Best Young Player award in the 2020-2021 season and the following year, he helped Napoli to win their first Serie A title in 33 years. At the moment, he is the highest-scoring African in the Italian league and currently holds the record for the most goals scored by an African in a single season. And shortly before the CAF Awards ceremony for 2023, Osimhen was named Italian Footballers Association’s (AIC) player of the year for his sterling performance for Napoli FC last season. That well-deserved recognition came his way soon after he was ranked number eight in the 2023 Ballon d’Or award which was held in Paris, France. He became the first Nigerian to make the top ten of the Ballon d’Or.
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Therefore, it was evident that barring unforeseen circumstances, the 24-year-old Nigerian was going to win the CAF Best Player Award. Of course, he was competing against two of the best football players in Africa but Osimhen’s time had come so there was no stopping the energetic and dare-devil striker. As a matter of fact, only Hakimi who had a marvelous outing with Morocco at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was a real threat to Osimhen. In the end, those who voted couldn’t overlook the Nigerian’s outstanding performances for Napoli.
Most of us are indeed happy that the former U-17 World Cup winner has brought home the elusive award. He is also only the fifth Super Eagles player to have won the award. The Late ‘gangling’ Rashidi Yekini was the first Nigerian to win it in 1993. Emmanuel Amunike brought home the second award in 1994 after he helped the Super Eagles to their second AFCON title in Tunisia. Kanu Nwankwo inspired the Dream Team to win Nigeria and Africa’s first ever Olympic gold medal in1996 and was deserving of the Africa’s Best Player award in the same year. The ‘Prince of Monaco’ as Victor Ikpeba was popularly called won the award in 1997 before Nwankwo returned in 1999 for his second title.
Unfortunately, after ‘Papilo’ was decorated in 1999, no other Super Eagles player won the award again till Oismhen broke the jinx recently. So, it took 24 years for a country with a huge population and talented players to win the coveted award. As a matter of fact, after 1999, the closest a Super Eagles player came to winning the award again was in 2003 and 2013 when Jay-Jay Okocha and Mikel Obi finished in second positions respectively. In 2004, Jay-jay tried again but only finished third and in 2014, Vincent Enyeama, finished third again.
Even when the event was sponsored by indigenous communication company, Globacom and organised in Lagos, no Super Eagles player was good enough to win. Therefore, the continuous absence of Nigerians on the podium became a serious embarrassment that must be halted. Unfortunately, the dwindling fortunes of the senior national team didn’t help matters. Of course, receipts of the award are judged based on their performances for club and country. This was one of the reasons most Nigerians feared that Hakimi might beat Osimhen to the crown. While the North African was making the continent proud with the Atlas Lions in Qatar, Osimhen and the Super Eagles were nowhere to be found.
Well, by his hard work and individual brilliance, Osimhen has re-opened the door that was shut firmly against his compatriots. His triumph may rekindle the flames of success. Therefore, everyone’s desire is to see Osimhen dominating the award the way Samuel Eto’o Fils of Cameroon and Yaya Toure of Ivory Coast did in their days. Both legends have won four titles each which is the highest by any player in Africa. As a matter of fact, the Ivorian made it four times in a row from 2011 to 2014. Toure was unstoppable till Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Gabon succeeded him in 2015.
To match the record set by Eto’o and Toure, Osimhen must stay focused and also pray for a quick turnaround in the fortunes of the Super Eagles. He may be an exceptional player but if the senior national team of Nigeria continues to put up abysmal performances, then it will be very difficult for either Osimhen or any of his teammates to win the award again or so soon.
So, as much as Nigerians want the present momentum to be sustained, they must exercise caution in their expectations because it is hard to predict the present Super Eagles. Apart from Osimhen, it is really hard to identify another player in the team who has the quality to win the next award. A look at the list of past winners has shown that most of the awardees were top strikers for club and country. Sadly, apart from Osimhen, who else can we boast of as a striker that has the potential win the award for Nigeria in the nearest future? Are there world class strikers in the present Super Eagles? Maybe Victor Boniface or Samuel Chukwueze but the latter’s erratic performances for AC Milan do not inspire any confidence.
Well, as we celebrate Osimhen, we must continue to pray that he is neither distracted by his sudden fame and wealth nor suffers a career-ending injury. Going by his style of play, it will take the special grace of God for the all-action striker to play into his late 30s. I want to reiterate that Osimhen, Member of the Federal Republic (MFR), is already a national asset, so we must continuously pray for him to have injury free seasons and avoid unprofessional behaviours that could truncate his blossoming career. We should also pray for more Osimhens to come into the Super Eagles. After all, the race for the 2024 Africa’s Best Football Player will start in January at the 2024 AFCON in Cote d ‘Ivoire. We don’t want another long wait for Africa’s Best Player award.
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