The favorite has won: Napoli striker Victor Osimhen has replaced Sadio Mané as Africa’s Footballer of the Year
In the past two years, there was no way around Sadio Mané. The former Liverpool and Munich striker from Senegal was awarded the honor in 2021 and 2022. While Mané was also recognized for his achievements for his home country – for example, winning the Africa Cup – Victor Osimhen won this year’s trophy primarily for his performance as a striker for SSC Napoli.
Napoli’s longing title bears Osimhen’s name
And it was truly something to behold: The 24-year-old Nigerian played a major part in Napoli’s return to endless championship celebrations for the first time in 33 years. In 32 Serie A games, the powerful attacker scored 26 of the southern Italian side’s 77 league goals. With this mark, he not only secured the Scudetto for his team, but also became the top scorer in Serie A.
The former Wolfsburg player (January 2016 to July 2018) also left his mark in the Champions League – Frankfurt, in particular, were able to tell a thing or two about how dangerous Osimhen is, as he scored a total of three times in the two round of 16 duels against the Hessians.
Hot transfer rumors in the summer
So it’s no wonder that Osimhen was one of the hottest transfer rumors in the summer of 2023. He was being discussed by Bayern, who were keeping a close eye on him, while Premier League trio Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester United put out feelers. And, of course, Saudi Arabian clubs were also in the draw – namely Al-Hilal.
Once all the speculation had cooled, Osimhen continued to score goals for Napoli – and not as brilliantly as before in the current season, partly because he returned to Italy from the Nigerian squad in mid-October with a thigh injury. He is still without a goal in the top flight, but has six goals in Serie A after eleven appearances.
Best goalscorer in the Africa Cup qualifiers
However, his exceptional position in this calendar year cannot be shaken – neither in Africa nor in Italy, where he was named Footballer of the Year just a few days ago. He scored ten goals to send Nigeria to the Africa Cup, which will take place in January/February 2024 – no other player was so hungry for goals in the qualifying matches for this competition. The last time a Nigerian was voted Africa’s Footballer of the Year was in 1999, 24 years ago when Kanu Nwankwo, who was scoring for Arsenal at the time, was honored.
Double success for Nigeria
The gala in Marrakesh (Morocco) was a double success for Nigeria, as Asisat Oshoala was unsurprisingly named Women’s Footballer of the Year for the sixth time. The 29-year-old FC Barcelona attacker was the top scorer for the Catalans, even though she missed the final against Wolfsburg (3:2) due to injury.
Incidentally, three players from the Bundesliga took part in the voting for Africa’s Footballer of the Year, which took place on Monday evening: Dortmund’s Ramy Bensebaini (Algeria), Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso) and Stuttgart’s goal scorer Serhou Guirassy (Guinea).
In the final standings, Osimhen came out on top ahead of former Dortmund player Achraf Hakimi (PSG, Morocco) and Egyptian Mohamed Salah from Liverpool FC.
