Nigeria’s Super Eagles forward, Victor Osimhen made history on Monday night after becoming the first ever Nigerian player to make the top ten of the Ballon d’Or.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Osimhen, who plays for Italian Serie A side, Napoli, ranked 8th place in the 2023 Men’s Ballon d’Or ranking.
Victor Osimhen becomes the first ever Nigerian player to make the top ten of the Ballon d'Or #ballondor pic.twitter.com/oaKsOQ34yH
— 🇳🇬 Super Eagles (@NGSuperEagles) October 30, 2023
FC Barcelona Femení have won the award for best women’s team at the 2023 Ballon d’Or ceremony.
The club were the cynosure of all eyes last season, winning the UEFA Champions League, and the Spanish league.
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Barcelona defeated VfL Wolfsburg in the women’s edition of the Champions League final after going down 2-0 in the first half. They ended up winning it in dramatic fashion with a score of 3-2.
They won Liga F with 10 points over second place Real Madrid, scoring 118 goals and conceding only 10 in the process.
They also won the Supercup final with a 3-0 victory over Real Sociedad.
Club president Joan Laporta, manager Jonatan Giráldez, and Patri Guijarro (who scored a brace in the Champions League final) represented the team and received the award at the gala.
Another Real Madrid player, Vinicius Jnr has won the Socrates Award for humanitarian contributions at the 2023 Ballon D’Or awards.
The Brazilian has led the charge against racism after being abused on countless occasions over the past 18 months, and brought about several changes in how Spanish football deals with racism.
Vinicius also has ‘The Vini Jr Institution’ which is concerned with improving public education for those in poverty, including the development of an app to help children. Last year he invested €335k, this year he has put €1m into the project, and he is expected to increase his funding by 150%, up to €2.5m, for 2024.
Football’s biggest stars will be celebrated tonight as the Ballon d’Or ceremony is about to kick start in Paris, France.
Lionel Messi is a strong favourite to win the men’s award for a record-extending eighth time, with Erling Haaland’s sensational first season at Manchester City unlikely to be enough for him to pip the Argentina star.
Should he win tonight, the Argentine super star will go home with his eighth award, the most in the world.
There have already been a number of rankings confirmed, with Bukayo Saka 24th and Jude Bellingham just pipping Harry Kane to finish 18th.
As with the men’s award, it is set to be a World Cup winner picking up the top women’s prize too, with Barcelona and Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmati leading the race as the Ballon d’Or Feminin gets a new recipient for the first time since 2019 after Alexis Putellas’ recent dominance.
Mary Earps and Georgia Stanway are among the Lionesses players nominated.
The top three will be Lionel Messi, Kyllian Mbappe and Erling Haaland in that order.
Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Napoli striker, Victor Osimhen has emerged in the top 10 of the Ballon d’Or 2023 ranking.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Osimhen ranked above Mohamed Salah, Robert Lewandowski, Yassine Bounou, Ilkay Gündogan and Emiliano Martinez in the Men’s Ballon d’Or 2023 ranking.
The Nigerian forward also ranked above Karim Benzema, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane and Lautaro Martinez.
Osimhen had been considered one of the favourites to win this year’s Ballon d’Or, after the top five favourite players for the awards were revealed some six months ago.
He scored 26 goals in the Italian Serie A last season to steer Napoli FC to their first Italian league title in 33 years and also scored five goals in the UEFA Champions League in which Napoli made it to the semi finals.
Osimhen was also the leading scorer in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with seven goals.
The much anticipated 2023 Ballon d’Or, will begin any moment from now in Paris, France and it’s billed to hold at the Theatre du Chatelet.
The award ceremony will begin by 6pm Nigerian time and it will be live streamed on France Football’s official website.
There are three strong contenders – Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi, Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe for this year’s Ballon d’Or.
Messi won the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup last year and also the Best Player award for the tournament. He also won the French Ligue title with PSG before leaving the club to join Inter Miami in the summer.
Haaland, meanwhile, won the Champions League, FA Cup and the Premier League title with Man City. He also scored a record 52 goals in all competitions last season.
Mbappe, on his part, led France to a second finish at the World Cup after they lost to Argentina in the final. He won the Golden Boot for the top scorer in the competition and also won the French Ligue 1 title with PSG.
Other contenders are André Onana, Josko Gvardiol, Karim Benzema, Jamal Musiala, Mohamed Salah, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Randal Kolo Muani, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Emiliano Martínez and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
The remaining includes Rúben Dias, Nicolo Barella, Yassine Bounou, Martin Ødegaard, Julián Álvarez, Ilkay Gündogan, Vinícius Júnior, Rodri, Lautaro Martínez, Antoine Griezmann, Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappé, Kim Min-jae, Victor Osimhen, Luka Modric and Harry Kane.
However, there are strong indications that Lionel Messi is the favourite to win his eighth title tonight in France.
Michail Antonio , West Ham United striker, has said it would be scandalous if Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland is not crowned the 2023 Ballon d’Or winner ahead of Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi.
According to Antonio, the Norwegian who won the Treble – Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, deserves this year’s Ballon d’Or ahead of Messi.
“I understand Messi winning the World Cup is massive, but you can’t look past a treble-winning team and what Haaland brought to that, breaking records,” Antonio said on his Footballers’ Footballer podcast (via Manchester Evening News).
“He deserves the Ballon d’Or. If he doesn’t get it then it’s a scandal.”
Haaland was spectacular during his debut campaign for Man City.
The Norwegian scored 52 goals and registered nine assists in 53 games across competitions, winning the Premier League Golden Boot.
The 23-year-old was also the top scorer in the UEFA Champions League, netting 12 times in 11 matches.
Simone Inzaghi , the Inter Milan manager, has insisted that striker, Lautaro Martinez deserves to win this year’s Ballon d’Or ahead of the likes of Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland.
Martinez is in the first 10 nominees for the 2023 Ballon d’Or.
However, the 26-year-old is not regarded as one of the favorites to win.
Martinez fired on all cylinders for both club and country in the 2022-2023 season.
He scored 28 goals and registered 11 assists in 57 games across competitions for Inter Milan, winning the Coppa Italia and made it to the final of the UEFA Champions League.
However, the 2023 Ballon d’Or looks to be heading to his Argentina teammate Messi for a record eighth time.
But Inzaghi argued that Martinez’s exploits last season deserve more credit and that the attacker merits being on the podium at the awards ceremony next week.
“(Martinez deserves it) because of the path he has taken and the trophies he has won, he is worthy of the Ballon d’Or,” Inzaghi said (via TNT Sports).
“He has to be there that night, I don’t think he will win but he has to continue like this.”
Nigeria’s Asisat Oshola and 29 other fantastic female footballers have been shortlisted for the female category of 2023 Balon d’or awards.
With two-time defending champion Alexia Putellas out of the running after a season decimated by injuries, the coast is now clear for a new winner to emerge.
Oshoala was nominated for the 2023 Ballon d’Or women’s player of the year award following her impressive season with FC Barcelona Femini in the Spanish League and the Super Falcons of Nigeria.
She won the Champions League with Barcelona Femine and played a big part in the Super Falcons team that featured at the 2023 World Cup.
The Nigerian, 28, was instrumental in her team’s Primera Division triumph last term and featured as they clinched the Supercopa de Espana Femenina to complete a historic treble.
She scored 21 league goals in 28 games last term.
The Women’s World Cup winner Aitana Bonmati, also made the shortlist. The competition’s Golden Boot winner Hinata Miyazawa and Colombian teenager Linda Caicedo made the list.
The 2023 awards will take place on the 30th of October
Below is the list of nominees for the 2023 Women’s Ballon d’Or
Khadija Shaw (Man City)
Mapi Leon (Barcelona)
Mary Earps (Man United)
Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona)
Wendie Renard (Lyon)
Katie Mccabe (Arsenal)
Jill Roord (Wolfsburg and Man City)
Yui Hasegawa (Man City)
Alexandra Popp (Wolfsburg)
Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona)
Debinha (Kansas City)
Sam Kerr (Chelsea)
Reiten (Chelsea)
Ewa Pajor (Wolfsburg)
Patricia Guijarro (Barcelona)
Daphne Van Domselaar (Twente and Aston Villa)
Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg)
Hinata Miyazawa (MyNavi Sendai and Man United)
Millie Bright(Chelsea)
Salma Paralluelo (Barcelona)
Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns)
Hayley Raso (Man City and Real Madrid)
Amanda Ilestedt (PSG and Arsenal)
Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich)
Olga Ramona (Real Madrid)
Fridolina Rolfo (Barcelona)
Rachel Daly (Aston Villa)
Alba Redondo (Levante)
Linda Caicedo (Real Madrid)
Kadidiatou Diani (Lyon)
Super Falcons and Barcelona forward, Asisat Oshoala has been shortlisted for the 2023 Ballon d’Or award.
Her nomination was announced on Friday via France Football’s social media pages.
The Nigerian forward was nominated for the Socrates award category of the Ballon d’Or.
The Socrates award identifies the best solidarity actions carried out by committee champions.
She is one of five individuals nominated for the award created last year and named after the late Brazil football legend Socrates.
Vinicius (Brazil/ Real Madrid), Antonio Rudiger (Germany/Real Madrid), Marcus Rashford (England/Manchester United), Alex Morgan (USA/San Diego Wave) are the other nominees.
The reigning African women’s Player of the Year was also a nominee for the Ballon d’Or in 2022.
Oshoala is presently in camp with the rest of her teammates in Australia in preparation for the FIFA Women’s world Cup in Australia and New Zealand.