NIGERIA internationals Victor Osimhen and Gift Orban are in the running to win prizes at the 2023 CAF Awards, while the Super Eagles and their head coach Jose Peseiro have not been nominated.
The Confederation of African Football announced the nominees for the men’s prizes today, with the awards scheduled for Marrakesh, Morocco on December 11.
Osimhen is one of 30 players nominated for the biggest prize, the Men’s Player of the Year, while Orban is one of 10 players contesting for the Young Player of the Year (Men).
Super Eagles and Napoli striker Osimhen has had a brilliant year for club and country and is a strong contender for the award.
The 24-year-old was the top scorer in Serie A with 26 goals as Napoli won their first Scudetto in 33 years, and he was also the leading scorer in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series with 10 goals.
Osimhen, who was the highest-ranked African player in Monday’s Ballon d’Or with his eighth place, will contend with the likes of Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, Senegal’s Sadio Mane and Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez for the CAF Awards main prize.
Other nominees include seven players from the Morocco squad that made African history by reaching the semi-finals of the Qatar 2022 World Cup: Yassine Bounou, Sofyan Amrabat, Youssef En-Nesyri, Hakim Ziyech, Achraf Hakimi, Azzedine Ounahi and Yahya Jabrane.
Ghana’s Thomas Partey, South Africa’s Percy Tau, Mali’s Yves Bissouma, Cameroon’s Vincent Aboubakar and Guinea’s Serhou Guirassy are also among the 30 nominees.
In the Young Player of the Year category, Super Eagles and Gent forward Orban is vying with nine other nominees, including Burkina Faso’s Dango Ouatarra, Senegal’s Pape Diop and Morocco’s Abdessamad Ezzalzouli.
The Super Eagles were not considered good enough to be among the 10 nominees for National Team of the Year (Men), with Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal and Tanzania all in contention.
Peseiro was also snubbed for the Men’s Coach of the Year prize as Morocco’s Walid Regragui, Senegal’s Aliou Cisse and Al Ahly’s Marcel Koller are among the 10 nominees.
Morocco’s Yassine Bounou, Cameroon’s Andre Onana and Senegal’s Edouard Mendy are the leading names in the 10 nominees for Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year, while Al Ahly, Wydad, Mamelodi Sundowns and Esperance are among the 10 contestants for the Club of the Year prize.
