The Confederation of African Football on Tuesday November 22 announced the finalists for the 2016 Glo-CAF African Player of the Year award with no Nigerian on the list.
Nigerian stars dominated the award in the 90s, raking in five awards from 1992 to 1999. The likes of Nwankwo Kanu (1996, 1999), Rashidi Yekini (1993), Emmanuel Amunike (1994) and Victor Ikpeba (1998) have all won the glamorous award.
But in the last decade, the closest Nigeria has come is a second place finish in 2013, when Chelsea star John Obi Mikel finished behind Yaya Toure. Since then, No Nigerian has won the award.
The England based trio of Mikel Obi, Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi miss out on the CAF list after previously failing to make the BBC Player of the Year final shortlist.
According to a statement on the body’s website, the players that made the shortlist are:
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Gabon (Borrusia Dortmund)
Riyad Mahrez, Algeria (Leicester City)
Sadio Mane, Senegal (Liverpool)
Mohamed Salah, Egypt (Roma)
Islam Slimani, Algeria (Leicester City)
This further reveals how Nigerian football has derailed and also exposed the downward trend of Nigerian football, as no Nigerian player have won the prestigious award in over a decade.
In 2015, Garbon striker, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang dethroned four-time winner, YayaToure to win the prestigious African Footballer of the Year Award and is top favourite for this year’s award.
The 26-year-old is the first player from Gabon to win the award and the first individual other than Toure to win it since Samuel Eto’o in 2010.
For the past six editions, players from Cote d’ Ivorie and Ghana have dominated the list.
The last time a Nigerian won the African Player award was way back in 1999 when Kanu Nwankwo clinched it under Arsenal colours.
The African Footballer Of the Year Award is open to African players all over the world but in the last two decades, winners of the award are mostly players based in Europe and this is where many Nigerians ply their trade. Yet in over a decade they have failed to match the performance of their counterparts from other countries and the reasons for this are not difficult to find.
Former international, Joe Erico blamed it on poor investment on youth developments programme.
“Well, as far am concerned, it’s a signal that our players have to work harder, we need to step up both administratively and the footballers themselves,” Erico said.
“Our players are not coming as young they use to be in those days, the era when we had the late RashidiYekini, KanuNwankwo, Austine Okocha, these guys played here for some time before travelling out.
“Players that came top those days are the ones who started their soccer career from the home ground; we don’t know the profile of today’s players,” Erico lamented.
Erico, popularly called Jogo Bonito in his playing days advised that all hands must be on deck for Nigeria to reclaim its lost glory in African football.
“We are not digging deep enough to discover new and young talents as they use to do in the 90’s; Investment in grassroots football is pivotal – where players are groomed with proper orientation. We are not grooming the players well enough.”
“CAF is not biased, our players need to work harder, Ighalo just came up and needs some level of consistency to merit the CAF award. Let’s watch his performances for another one year and see how it goes.”
The veteran coach also called for Super Eagles players to dear to make big moves where they can showcase their talents more.
“Nigerian players can’t make the big move if they don’t have the weapon to make the big move. They must be fully loaded to make the move.
Although, no Nigerian players in the year under review playing in Europe did enough compared to the names released by CAF for this year award. But with the current form of Nigerian stars like; Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City), Victor Moses (Chelsea), Ahmed Musa (Leicester City), Alex Iwobi (Arsenal) playing at the premier league, no doubt in two years from now, a Nigerian player will take the award.
The 2016 Glo-CAF Awards will be held on January 5, 2017 in Abuja, Nigeria.
Anthony Nlebem
Twitter: @AnthonyNlebem
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AnthonyNlebem
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