President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ibrahim Musa Gusau, on Monday night, commended all Nigerian players who made the country proud at the 2023 CAF Football Awards held in Marrakech, Morocco.
The NFF supremo was present at the Hotel Movenpick and collected the first honour that came Nigeria’s way – Women’s National Team of the Year. He dedicated the award to all women’s football teams on the African continent.
Chiamaka Nnadozie, who shone brightly at the FIFA World Cup finals in Down Under this year summer as the Super Falcons reached the Round of 16, was the undoubted winner of the honour of Goalkeeper of the Year (Women).
After Asisat Oshoala won a record-extending sixth award as Player of the Year (Women), the auditorium went silent as it was time to present the men’s version.
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Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen, Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi and Egypt’s Mohamed Salah were the final three.
Osimhen was crowned, becoming the first Nigerian player in 24 years to take the gong.
The last person was Nwankwo Kanu, back in 1999. Kanu also won in 1996, after Rashidi Yekini in 1993 and Emmanuel Amuneke in 1994. Victor Ikpeba took the crown in 1997.
Gusau said: “I am very excited tonight. This has been hugely rewarding for our football and for our country as a whole. I congratulate Osimhen, Oshoala and Nnadozie, and I congratulate the Super Falcons as a team for bringing us this honour.
“My charge would be that they all keep doing what they know how to do best, keep improving and keep winning. The sky will be the beginning for them.”
Osimhen became the first player in the history of the African Football Awards to have been crowned Player of the Year (Men) after having pocketed the Young Player of the Year (Men) in an earlier year.
Only last Monday, the 24-year-old was crowned the 2022/2023 Player of the Year in Italy’s Serie A, after having won the Young Player of the Year in the same league in the 2021/2022 season.
