With the exclusion of the names of
erstwhile captain of the Super Eagles Vincent Enyeama and the current
skipper Ahmed Musa from the list of the top 10 nominees for the African
Footballer of the Year award released by CAF on Monday, Nigeria have
failed produce Africa’s best in 16 years.
CAF dropped Enyeama and Musa, who were
on the initial 37-man nominees’ list, ruling out the possibility of a
Nigerian winning the 2015 edition of the most prestigious award for
African footballers at the award ceremony billed to hold in Abuja on
January 7, 2016.
Nwankwo Kanu was the last Nigerian to
receive the honour and that was as far back as 1999, during the
1999-2000 season when he scored 17 goals in 36 appearances for Arsenal.
Kanu was also Africa’s best in 1996 when
he shone at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics, helping Nigeria win gold after
beating Brazil and Argentina in the semifinal and the final
respectively.
Nigerians enjoyed dominance of the
Africa Footballer of the Year award in the 1990s, winning it five times
between 1993 and 1999.
Rashidi Yekini won it in 1993 and
Emmanuel Amuneke claimed it in 1994 after Nigeria won the Africa Cup of
Nations that year. Yekini also placed third in 1994 behind Liberia’s
George Weah.
In 1996, when Kanu won it the first
time, Weah came second and Daniel Amokachi came third. Victor Ikpeba,
who was in top form for AS Monaco, won the award in 1997, with Taribo
West coming third behind Chadian, Japhet N’Doram. In 1998, when Mustapha
Hadji of Morocco won the award, Austin Okocha and Sunday Oliseh came
second and third respectively.
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