Victor Osimhen's stunning ascent to become the king of African football

Seven months ago, when Napoli closed in on a first Serie A title in more than three decades, Victor Osimhen admitted to Daily Mail that it has always been his dream to win African Footballer of the Year.

Osimhen made history and brought the Scudetto back to the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona after a dominant performance that saw Gli Azzurri lead the league from September.

The incredible season with Napoli saw Osimhen’s dream come true as he was voted player of the year at the 2023 CAF Awards.

He became the first Nigerian to win the award since Nwankwo Kanu in 1999. It’s also the first time the award is returning to an English-speaking African country in the 21st century.

But did the Napoli striker unanimously deserve the award?

The case for others

A 30-man nominee list was subsequently narrowed down to 10 before being pruned down to three; Osimhen, Salah, and Hakimi.

In the end, a panel consisting of the CAF Technical Committee, media professionals, head coaches, and captains of Member Associations and clubs involved in the group stages of the Interclub competitions voted Osimhen as the winner.

Salah and Hakimi were his closest competitors with the latter posing the strongest threat.

Salah was hoping to win the award for a third time after claiming the prize in 2017 and 2018. He was Liverpool’s top scorer and ended the 2022/23 season with 30 goals whilst providing 16 assists.

Despite a very jerky season, Salah’s form in the second half propelled Liverpool into the Europa League as they narrowly missed out on the top four. In the Premier League, the Egyptian had 19 goals and 12 assists in 38 games.

Salah didn’t have the chance to represent his country at the 2022 World Cup after missing out on qualification to Senegal and his then-teammate Sadio Mane. Despite that, the Liverpool forward made amends and inspired Egypt to qualify for the 2023 AFCON.

For Salah, once again his numbers were world-class but didn’t really have any significant impact on his team’s achievements. Liverpool failed to win a trophy whilst Egypt didn’t qualify for the World Cup.

Unlike Salah, Hakimi had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make history with Morocco at the World Cup in Qatar. The Atlas Lions became the first African and Arab country to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.

They did it in style, topping a group with Belgium, Croatia, and Canada. The heroics carried over into the knockout round as Hakimi’s panenka penalty proved to be the difference in the shootout against Spain. A towering header by Youssef En-Nesyri in the quarterfinal against Portugal proved to be enough as the North African side reached the last four for the same time. Eventually, they lost the semi-finals and third-place playoff to France and Croatia respectively but they earned the respect of many.

The thing about Morocco’s success on the world stage was that several key players contributed to it. Yassine Bounou, Sofyan Amrabat, Hakim Ziyech, Sofiane Boufal, and En-Nesyri were all instrumental in the country’s triumph.

Hakimi was good, but he can be viewed as a part of a unit when it comes to Morocco’s historic run. For instance, Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or at the World Cup but it wasn’t just because Argentina was head and shoulders above everyone else. The Inter Miami forward individually won games for Argentina and was the difference in every game. It is easy to attribute Argentina’s success in Qatar to Messi, but the same can’t be said of Hakimi.

At PSG, Hakimi contributed to goals scoring five and assisting four in 28 league games as PSG won a record-equalling 10th Ligue 1 title.

Osimhen rises above others

It had been 23 years since a Nigerian had won this award and Osimhen ended the jinx in style. It’s difficult to argue against the striker who dominated European football last season. He finished as Serie A's top scorer with a tally of 26 – the highest number of goals scored by an African in a Serie A season breaking George Weah’s record in the process.

He scored important goals and proved to be Napoli’s main man in key parts of the season as they won the Scudetto for the first time since 1990. In all competitions, the striker scored 31 goals and reached the quarter-final of the UEFA Champions League.

When it comes to individual highlights, the Nigerian won the Serie A Golden Boot and was voted as Serie A Best Striker and Player of the Season. These awards demonstrate how his influence transcended beyond Napoli to the whole of Italy.

His exceptional performances made his mask an attraction point as fans trooped into shops for his replica mask. Outside of Italy, Osimhen was ranked eighth in the 2023 Ballon d’Or rankings and became the first Nigerian to make the top 10 of the awards.

The only dent was the fact that Ghana pipped Nigeria to the World Cup as the Super Eagles missed out via the away goal rule. The striker picked himself up and scored 10 goals in the AFCON qualifiers to help Nigeria book a ticket for the continental showpiece in Ivory Coast next year.

This was always Osimhen’s award to lose. Between November 2022 and September 2023, there hasn’t been a more consistent player on the continent. He’s been in class in Italy, Europe, and Africa.