{"id":4581,"date":"2023-12-12T05:21:06","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T05:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/?p=4581"},"modified":"2023-12-12T05:21:06","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T05:21:06","slug":"osimhen-crowned-2023-caf-footballer-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/2023\/12\/12\/osimhen-crowned-2023-caf-footballer-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Osimhen Crowned 2023 CAF Footballer Of The Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">Victor Osimhen has been crowned the 2023 African Footballer of the Year in a momentous event that solidified his status as one of the best players in the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gatekeepersnews.com\/\">Gatekeepers News<\/a> reports that Osimhen saw off competition from Morocco\u2019s Achraf Hakimi and Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Also, Asisat Oshoala also won the female best female player of the continent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Monday\u2019s award capped off a sterling year for the Super Eagles forward whose historic feat in the imperial Moroccan city of Marakesh ended Nigeria\u2019s 24-year-old wait for Africa\u2019s top individual prize.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Legendary Kanu Nwankwo was the last Nigerian to win the award and that was in 1999.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The prize is a recognition of Osimhen\u2019s exploits for his Napoli club side and the national team where he is a key member. He spearheaded the Italian team\u2019s unprecedented Serie A title run, scoring 26 goals in the league to become the first African to win the Pichichi (top scorer) award.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">His contribution broke George Weah\u2019s record as the highest-scoring player from the continent in the Italian top flight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Napoli last won the Scudetto 33 years ago during the legendary Diego Maradona\u2019s era. For the 2022\/23 campaign, the former Lille striker\u2019s impeccable form saw him included in the Serie A Team of the Year as he also clinched the Best Striker prize.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Osimhen\u2019s ranking in the 2023 Ballon d\u2019Or was a testament to his contributions to the Serie A team\u2019s epochal showing. He was ninth, becoming the highest-ranked African for the year and the most-ranked Nigerian in the history of the award.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Earlier in the month, the Nigerian was crowned as Italian footballers\u2019 association player of the Year, the first African to win the AIC award.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Though Nigeria agonizingly missed out on the 2022 World Cup, losing the ticket to perennial rivals Ghana, Osimhen\u2019s contributions to the Super Eagles were staggering in the year under review. He was the top scorer in the qualification race for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with 10 goals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Although injuries have hampered his outing for Napoli this season \u2013 with just six goals in 10 games for Walter Mazzari\u2019s men \u2013 Monday\u2019s award is the crowning point of a hugely successful year for the Nigerian marksman.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gatekeepersnews.com\/2023\/12\/11\/just-in-osimhen-crowned-2023-caf-footballer-of-the-year\/\">https:\/\/gatekeepersnews.com\/2023\/12\/11\/just-in-osimhen-crowned-2023-caf-footballer-of-the-year\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Osimhen has been crowned the 2023 African Footballer of the Year in a momentous event that solidified his status<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4581"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4583,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4581\/revisions\/4583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}