Newly crowned 2023 Africa Player of The Year, Victor Osimhen, has been voted the Sportsman of The Year by fans and readers of PUNCH Sports Extra.
The Napoli superstar was given the nod ahead of Barcelona Femeni striker, Asisat Oshoala, women’s 100m hurdles world record holder, Tobi Amusan, and four-time winner of the Bundesliga Rookie of The Month award, Victor Boniface.
In a poll conducted by Sports Extra, a large number of Nigerians said the Super Eagles striker had done enough to be honoured as the country’s Sportsman of The Year.
Out of the 100 votes by the readers and fans, Osimhen scored 61 per cent to come tops while Oshoala was second with 19 per cent.
Amusan, the women’s 100m hurdles world record holder ended up in third place with 14 per cent of the votes while fourth-place Boniface had six per cent.
Its been a remarkable year for Lagos-born striker Osimhen, who has dominated the headlines with his achievements and is one of the most sought after strikes in Europe.
The 24-year-old has been in fine form for Napoli in the past 12 months, guiding the Serie A club to their first league victory in 33 years with a league-high 26 goals in 32 Serie A games last season, and 31 goals across all competitions.
After ending the 2022/23 season as the top scorer in Italy’s top division, the Nigerian also became the first African to achieve the feat.
He was also named the Italian Footballers’ Association Serie A Player of The Year for the 2022/23 season.
For the national team, Osimhen helped Nigeria qualify for the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast and finished the qualification series as top scorer with 10 goals.
In what has been an astonishing year for the former Lille striker, Osimhen became the first Nigerian player in history to be named in the Top 10 of the Ballon d’Or with an eighth-place finish.
Thus, it didn’t come as a surprise to many during the CAF awards ceremony in Marrakech on Monday, when Osimhen was named African Footballer of The Year, beating Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi and Egypt’s Mohamed Salah to the award.
Having secured the gong, Osimhen was quick to recognise those around him that helped shape his career on the way to winning the prestigious award.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen. First of all, I want to say thank you God for everything,” said Osimhen after receiving his award.
“Special thanks goes to Emmanuel Amunike. Without him, I don’t think I would be standing in front of you guys holding one of the most prestigious awards in world football. It’s a dream come true for me.
“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.”
Osimhen became the first Nigerian to win the award since Nwankwo Kanu in 1999.
The Eagles star forward stands a chance of adding to his laurels as he has been shortlisted for the best player award in the men’s category by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics for 2023.
He faces a strong battle for the prize as he is up against reigning Ballon d’Or winner and holder of the IFFHS award Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Antoine Griezmann and Bukayo Saka.
The list also includes Vinicius Jnr, Mohamed Salah, Martin Odegaard, Harry Kane, Kevin De Bruyne and Jude Bellingham.
In the poll conducted Sports Extra, Oshoala came second behind Osimhen.
Oshoala helped Barcelona claim the UEFA Women’s Champions League, while also guiding the Catalans to a league victory as they went unbeaten the whole season.
Despite battling an injury, she helped the Super Falcons to the round of 16 at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, where they lost to England on penalties.
On Monday, she claimed a record-extending sixth Women’s Player of The Year to etch her name as the most successful women’s player in Africa.
Amusan ranked third in the result of the poll.
Since taking the world by storm in Oregon last year, where she set a new world record in the women’s 100m hurdles event at the World Athletics Championship, the 26-year-old has not shown any sign of slowing down.
Amusan broke the previous 12.20secs world record record, setting a new 12.2secs during her semi-final run at the Championship. She also went on to win gold in a time of 12.06s but this wasn’t ratified as it was deemed wind-assisted.
However, it’s been a topsy-turvy 2023 for the Ogun-born hurdler, who back in July was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit for allegedly missing three whereabouts tests.
Amusan denied the allegations and after a tribunal absolved her of any wrongdoing, she was cleared to participate at the World Championships in Budapest just days before the event.
Affected by the off-field incidents, the Nigerian could only muster a sixth-place finish in the final of the 100m hurdles, this failing to successfully defend her title.
However, in September, Amusan returned to the podium, winning the Diamond League trophy.
She won the 100m women’s hurdles in 12.33s to retain her Diamond League crown and became only the second woman in the history of the event to clinch three 100m hurdles titles in a row, equalling America’s Dawn Harper-Nelson, who won the prestigious title between 2012 and 2014.
Having made history last year when she became the first Nigerian to be nominated for the Women’s World Athlete of The Year, before she eventually lost out to 400m hurdles record holder, Sydeny McLaughlin, Amusan in October failed to make the final shortlist for the Women’s World Athlete of The Year Award after the World Athletics announced the list of 11 nominees for the award.
Victor Boniface finished in fourth position with six votes from the pole conducted by PUNCH Sports Extra.
Since moving to Germany in July, Boniface has been a dominant force in the Bundesliga, earning consecutive accolades as the Bundesliga Rookie of the Month for August, September, October and November 2023, alongside claiming the Bundesliga Player of The Month award for August 2023. In the 2023/24 season, Boniface has netted a total of 14 goals and seven assists in 21 matches across all competitions.
After cutting his teeth in the game at Real Sapphire in Nigeria, Boniface made his breakthrough in the European game at Norwegian topflight side Bodo/Glimt, where he posted 23 goals and eight assists in 66 games between 2019 and 2022.
The 22-year-old has not shown any sign of slowing down and the year 2023 even saw a better version of the striker.
While at Union Saint-Gilloise, Boniface clinched the UEFA Europa League top scorer award after scoring six goals in 10 games, to secured a place in the prestigious UEFA Europa League Team of The Season. He also emerged as the top scorer in the UEFA Champions League qualifying with five
goals.
