By: Mayowa Kufile
Nigerians have waited for this day. The countdown has been on since nomination for the CAF Awards was released and when CAF President Patrice Motsepe mounted the stage at the Movenpick Hotel in Marrakech to announce the 2023 winner of the CAF Player of the Year (men). It was ecstasy among Nigerians when Victor Osimhen was duly announced as the winner of the most prestigious individual football award on the continent.
There is a saying that “No one knows tomorrow,” and events over the years have shown that this may be true to an extent because when Nigeria’s Nwankwo Kanu last won the African Footballer of the Year award in 1999, some football-loving fans of Africa’s most populous country would have disagreed if you tell them it will take a whopping 24 years before the country produced another winner.
Before Nwankwo Kanu’s win in 1999, the country produced four of the last seven recipients of the CAF Awards (Rashidi Yekini 1993, Emmanuel Amunike 1994, Nwankwo Kanu 1996, and Victor Ikpeba 1997). After that, some players have come close to winning again. Austin JJ Okocha came third in 2003 and 2004, Mikel Obi was second in 2013 behind Ivorian Yaya Toure, while goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama finished third in 2014.
Nigeria football fans heave a sigh of relief and excitement for producing another winner of the prestigious award because it is a country that prides itself on being blessed with the best of talents the continent has to offer. And for a fact, no country has produced more CAF Young Player of the Year/Promising Player of the Year than Nigeria (7) since the award was introduced in 2001.
Osimhen: The Journalists Who Saw The Future
Nigerians had high hopes for Victor Osimhen when he burst onto the scene at the 2015 U17 World Cup in Chile, a tournament he led Nigeria to win while scoring ten goals to finish as the top scorer and winning the Silver Ball. His emergence at that tournament led some prominent Nigerian sports Journalists to predict a good future for him.
Senior Editor at PulseSportsNG, Solace Chukwu, had this to say about Osimhen in 2015.
If Victor Osimhen doesn’t hit the heights, either he didn’t want it enough, or there truly is juju in football. #U17WConStarTimes
— Solace Chukwu (@TheOddSolace) November 8, 2015
Publisher of ACL Sports Calvin Emeka Onwuka was another big fan of Victor Osimhen.
The love I have for Victor Osimhen is not here o. I watch his every clip with a smile. My prayer is that he just steers clear of injuries. He is going to be huge.
Used to feel like this about John Utaka too. Guys you just feel “footballer” when you see them on the field.— Calvin ‘Emeka Onwuka (@CalvinEmeka) October 15, 2019
Dumnodi Okonta made this bold call in 2020 ahead of Osimhen’s move from Lille to Napoli in 2020.
Victor Osimhen @victorosimhen9 will win the CAF African Footballer Of The Year Award If He Moves To SSC Napoli.
🇳🇬
— Dumnodi Okonta (@mitchokonta) June 30, 2020
With this award, Victor Osimhen now needs to lead Nigeria to the pinnacle of African football. An AFCON win to cement his place as one of the Nigerian greats, and we shouldn’t forget he is 17 goals away from equalling the long record of Rashidi Yekini as the country’s all-time goal scorer.
Nigerians can brag again.