CAF Awards: Osimhen battles 29 others for Africa Footballer of the Year 

By Olusola Adebayo

Victor Osimhen has been nominated alongside 29 other players for this year's Africa Footballer of the Year award www.234sportsng.com reports. 

This was unveiled by the Confederation of African Football as the list of nominees for the men’s categories for the CAF Awards 2023 was released on Wednesday, 1 November 2023. 

The winner will be crowned on 11 December 2023 in Marrakech, Morocco, at the Gala ceremony to celebrate the nominees.

A panel of CAF Technical Experts, African Football Legends and selected media representatives from several countries put together the preliminary list for the various categories with the performance of the nominees between November 2022 and September 2023 serving as the period under consideration.

The panel found Thirty (30) players worthy of the prize of CAF African Player of the Year, which includes Victor Osimhen who finished as the number 8 best footballer in the world, the highest-ranked African, in the 2023 Balon Dior awards. 

Osimhen is the only Nigerian in the top 30, as no other Nigerian makes the list of nominees of the award dominated by Nigeria in the 90s. 

Late Rashidi Yekini won the 1993 edition, to become the first Nigerian to win the Award however, Osimhen will be looking to win this year's edition and break the 24-year-old drought as Kanu Nwaknwo is the last Nigerian to win the award in 1999.

Full List of Nominees (in alphabetic order by Member Association):

Player of the Year (Men)

1. Ramy Bensebaini (Algeria and Borussia Dortmund)

2. Riyad Mahrez (Algeria and Al Ahli)

3. Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso and Bayer Leverkusen)

4. Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Cameroon and SSC Napoli)

5. Vincent Aboubacar (Cameroon and Besiktas)

6. Ibrahima Sangare (Cote d’Ivoire and Nottingham Forest)

7. Seko Fofana (Cote d’Ivoire and Al Nassr)

8. Chancel Mbemba (DR Congo and Olympique Marseille)

9. Fiston Mayele (DR Congo and Pyramids)

10. Mahmoud Abdel Moneim “Kahraba” (Egypt and Ahly)

11. Mohamed Abdelmonem (Egypt and Al Ahly)

12. Mohamed ElShenawy (Egypt and Al Ahly)

13. Mohamed Salah (Egypt and Liverpool)

14. Mohammed Kudus (Ghana and West Ham United)

15. Thomas Partey (Ghana and Arsenal)

16. Serhou Guirassy (Guinea and VfB Stuttgart)

17. Yves Bissouma (Mali and Tottenham Hotspur)

18. Achraf Hakimi (Morocco and Paris Saint-Germain)

19. Azzedine Ounahi (Morocco and Olympique Marseille)

20. Hakim Ziyech (Morocco and Galatasaray)

21. Sofyan Amrabat (Morocco and Manchester United)

22. Yahya Jabrane (Morocco and Wydad Athletic Club)

23. Yassine Bounou (Morocco and Al Hilal)

24. Youssef En-Nesyri (Morocco and Sevilla)

25. Peter Shalulile (Namibia and Mamelodi Sundowns)

26. Victor Osimhen (Nigeria and SSC Napoli)

27. Sadio Mane (Senegal and Al Nassr)

28. Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal and Tottenham Hotspur)

29. Percy Tau (South Africa and Al Ahly)

30. Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane (Tunisia and Ferencvaros)