{"id":297824,"date":"2023-12-12T17:45:53","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T17:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=297824"},"modified":"2023-12-12T17:45:53","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T17:45:53","slug":"victor-osimhen-beats-mo-salah-to-african-footballer-of-the-year-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/victor-osimhen-beats-mo-salah-to-african-footballer-of-the-year-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Victor Osimhen beats Mo Salah to African Footballer of the Year award"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1> Victor Osimhen beats Mohamed Salah to African Footballer of the Year award&#8230; as Chelsea target becomes first Nigerian since 1999 to claim the prize after firing Napoli to the Serie A title with 26 goals<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Victor Osimhen has won the crown after a year of blistering form for Napoli\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>He helped the club reach the Champions League quarter-finals and win Serie A<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Chelsea are WRETCHED without the ball and you haven\u2019t got a clue what team will turn up every week &#8211; Listen to It&#8217;s All Kicking Off<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen has been named African Footballer of the Year after beating Mohamed Salah to the award at a ceremony in Marrakech on Monday, with compatriot Asisat Oshoala winning the top prize in the women&#8217;s category.<\/p>\n<p>Osimhen, 24, scored 26 goals as he helped Napoli to a surprise triumph in Serie A last season and was the leading marksman in Italy&#8217;s top division.<\/p>\n<p>Egypt&#8217;s Liverpool forward Salah and Morocco&#8217;s Paris St Germain right-back Achraf Hakimi were the other two final nominees but Osimhen claimed the prize to become the first Nigerian winner since Nwankwo Kanu in 1999.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It is a dream come true,&#8217; said Osimhen.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I have to thank everybody who has helped me on this journey and all Africans who have helped to put me on the map despite my faults.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/11\/23\/78846193-0-image-a-57_1702338121981.jpg\" height=\"435\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Victor Osimhen has been crowned African Footballer of the Year after his goals boosted Napoli to the Serie A title<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/00\/78846363-12852611-Two_time_winner_Mo_Salah_reached_the_final_but_was_unable_to_cla-a-23_1702341529695.jpg\" height=\"464\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Two-time winner Mo Salah reached the final but was unable to claim the prize for a third time<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>At the recent Ballon d&#8217;Or ceremony, Osimhen became the first Nigerian player in history to be named in the top ten with an eighth-placed finish.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Morocco won National Team of the Year in the men&#8217;s category after their thrilling run to the World Cup semi-finals in Qatar, while their manager Walid Regragui won Coach of the Year.<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria&#8217;s Barcelona forward Oshoala was the women&#8217;s African Footballer of the Year for a record sixth time, having battled injury to help her side to the round of 16 at the World Cup in Australia &amp; New Zealand where they took England to penalties.<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria took home the trophy for National Team of the Year, but South Africa&#8217;s Desiree Ellis won women&#8217;s Coach of the Year for the fourth time in succession.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/12\/00\/78846429-12852611-Asisat_Oshoala_was_named_the_women_s_Afrcain_Footballer_of_the_Y-a-24_1702341529696.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Asisat Oshoala was named the women&#8217;s Afrcain Footballer of the Year for a record sixth time<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12852611\/Victor-Osimhen-Mohamed-Salah-African-Footballer-Chelsea-Napoli-Serie-A.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Victor Osimhen beats Mohamed Salah to African Footballer of the Year award&#8230; as Chelsea target becomes first Nigerian since 1999 to claim the prize after <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/victor-osimhen-beats-mo-salah-to-african-footballer-of-the-year-award\/\" title=\"Victor Osimhen beats Mo Salah to African Footballer of the Year award\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297823,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Victor Osimhen beats Mo Salah to African Footballer of the Year award - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/victor-osimhen-beats-mo-salah-to-african-footballer-of-the-year-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Victor Osimhen beats Mo Salah to African Footballer of the Year award - Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Victor Osimhen beats Mohamed Salah to African Footballer of the Year award&#8230; 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