Izuchukwu OkosiSuper Eagles striker Victor Osimhen has been nominated as one of 12 candidates for the prestigious FIFA The Best Men’s Player Award and would battle for the prize with illustrious names like Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Ilkay Gundogan, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne, Declan Rice, Bernardo Silva, Julia Alvarez, Marcelo Brozovic and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, reports Prime Business Africa.
Six of the 12 nominees for the Award are from Manchester City’s treble-winning side albeit the list conspicuously did not have the name of Cristiano Ronaldo who wa aslo omitted form the list of 30 for the Ballon D’Or award.
Osimhen scored 26 league goals in the Serie A last season to help SS Napoli to help the side win the Scudetto for the first time in 33 years after the legendary Diego Maradona captained them to their last title.
Osimhen who is also in the reckoning to win the 2023 African Footballer of The Year award with only Morocco goalkeeper Yaccine Bonou the realistic threat to his winning the gong, scored a hat-trick last weekend for Nigeria in the 6-0 romp over Sao Tome and Principe in Nigeria’s last 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
Bonou is named among nominees for the best goalkeeper award that also include Thibaut Courtois , Ederson, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Cameroon’s Andre Onana.
For the FIFA Men’s Best Coaches award released by FIFA on Thursday, Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola leads the cast that also includes Inter Milan manager, Simone Inzaghi whose side lost to the Cityzens in the final of the 2022/2023 UEFA Champions League on June 3.
Also nominated in the men’s coaching category are the trio of Ange Postecoglou (Formerly at Celtic, now Tottenham Hotspur manager), Luciano Spalletti (won the Serie A whilst in charge of Napoli, now the Italian national team coach) and Xavi (Barcelona coach).
The 2021 and 2022 winners of The FIFA Best Women’s Coach award – Emma Hayes and Sarina Wiegman – are two of the quintet nominated in this category.
Nominations for FIFA The Best Women’s Goalkeeper are dominated by those who shone in Australia and New Zealand during July and August.
Golden Glove winner Mary Earps is joined by gold medallist Catalina Coll, among seven nominees. In the corresponding men’s category, five nominees from three continents have been shortlisted.
Nigeria’s Chiamaka Nnadozie who had a splendid individual performance in the group stage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup missed out ostensibly due to Nigeria’s elimination in the round of 16 stage after the penalty shootout defeat to England.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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