* When things were not going well with me, he was the brain behind the motivation
* It is absolutely right for me to acknowledge him at the biggest stage, because behind closed doors, he has helped me a lot
Maravi Express
African football legend Emmanuel Amunike handpicked 2023 African Player of the Year award winner, Victor Osimhen by giving him a chance to feature for Nigeria’s Super Eagles starting from the U17 level.
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Osimhen said this after he was announced as Africa’s best player at the CAF Awards Gala at Palais des Congrès in Marrakech, Morocco — beating to it favorites — Egypt’s Mohammad Sallah and past two edition’s winner, Sadio Mane of Senegal.
After absorbing the glorious moment when he reached the podium for his speech amidst a standing ovation, the 24-year-old Nigerian began by thanking his teammates and everyone that had supported his journey from the beginning.
“This feels good,” he quoted as saying by CAFonline. “It has been 24 years since a Nigerian — Nwankwo Kanu — won this award [in 1999]. It is a very good feeling to have put Nigeria back on the map. I appreciate God for this.”
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He then turned his attention to Amunike, who was present alongside an array of African legends — that included Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Kalusha Bwalya (Zambia), Abedi Pele (Ghana), Thomas N’Kono (Cameroun), Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria), El Hadji Diouf (Senegal), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo) — who have all won the prestigious African Player of the Year award.
He said Amunike believed in Osimhen right from the start and was at the heart of their 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup victory in Chile, saying: “He gave me the opportunity to really showcase myself and when things were not going well with me, he was the brain behind the motivation.
“It is absolutely right for me to acknowledge him at the biggest stage because behind closed doors, he has helped me a lot. He is present here to witness what he has produced.”
Amunike, who was the 1994 African Player of the Year, was at the heart of Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 1994 victory before taking the world by storm at the FIFA World Cup in the USA scoring against Bulgaria and Italy. He was also key to Nigeria’s Atlanta 1996 Olympic gold medal.
Amunike’s 1994 FIFA World Cup goal celebration moment
He later took up coaching winning the 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup with Osimhen walking away with the Golden Boot after scoring 10 goals.
Osimhen added: “It is a big night for us as Nigeria. [Asisat] Oshoala, Chiamaka [Nnadozie] and the Super Falcons. It shows what we can do and that we are back on track.”
He was referring to compatriot Oshoala, who won the women’s African Player of the Year for the record 6th time (2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2022) while Nnadozie walked away with the inaugural women’s Goalkeeper of the Year.
The Super Falcons were named the National Team of the Year thanks to their exploits at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and most notably their standout 3-2 victory against the hosts – a game in which Oshoala scored the eventual winner after coming back from injury.
Osimhen revealed that the prestigious award is motivation for him and his teammates ahead of the AFCON 2023 in Côte d’Ivoire, in which the Super Eagles are in Group A with the hosts, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea Bissau.
“We are ready and preparing very well,” he said of the finals in January. “The squad is in high spirits. We are raring to go and hope that we shall do well there.”
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Nigeria have won the AFCON three times in 1980, 1994 and 2013 and Osimhen, who made headlines in Italy where he was voted Italy’s Player of the Year award after firing Napoli to glory, will be hoping to replicate his fine form in Côte d’Ivoire
He scored 27 goals in all competitions for Napoli this year — the joint-most by an African player in the big five European leagues as he ties with Egyptian Mohamed Salah.
In May 2023, Victor Osimhen scored against Fiorentina, netting his 47th goal in the Serie A, overtaking George Weah (46) as the highest goal-scoring African player in the history of the competition — and he is also the highest goal scorer in the AFCON 2023 qualifiers with 10 goals.
Meanwhile, Nigeria has now won an impressive 13 women’s Africa Player of the Year awards – a record on the continent after Oshoala added her record sixth to her cabinet.
Winner of the inaugural edition in 2001, Mercy Akide told CAFonline that “it is massive” in that this is the first time ever that two Nigerians have been awarded as African Player of the Year in the women and men’s categories.
“Asisat has been exceptional all year round at both country and club level for Barcelona and to see CAF awarding her means so much to us as a country. Nigeria – we are winners so this is a big day for us.”
Four-time winner Perpetua Nkwocha (2004, 2005, 2010 and 2011) from Nigeria added to the praise saying: “Asisat has always been exceptional and for her to win tonight means a lot to her and us as a country. This will motivate her to continue working hard.”
Nkwocha and Akide, who are considered pioneers in the growth of women’s football in Nigeria and on the continent, said this will further promote the growth of the game back home and across the continent.
Akide won the Women’s AFCON with Nigeria in 1998, 2000 and 2002 while Nkwocha won the continent’s biggest tournament alongside Akide in 2002 before inspiring the Super Falcons upfront as well in 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2014.
Apart from guiding the Super Falcons to the Round of 16 at the FIFA Women’s World Cup thanks to her eventual winner against hosts Australia in the group stages, Oshoala was Barcelona’s top scorer last season, plundering 27 goals across all competitions as the Spanish giants clinched a domestic double.
Her goals helped Barca retain their Primera Division title and overcome Lyon to lift the Champions League in Turin and became the first female player to receive the award for highest goalscorer in the Spanish top flight after notching 20 league goals.
Oshoala’s goals have lit up women’s football in 2022 at both club and international level over the past 12 months and her remarkable consistency was rewarded with another individual prize to sit proudly alongside he five previous African Women’s Footballer of the Year titles.—Reporting by CAFonline; edited by Maravi Express
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