Ballon d’Or – See all the eight Nigerians ever nominated

Two Nigerians have been nominated for this year’s Ballon d’Or awards, in the persons of Victor Osimhen and Asisat Oshaola. This marks the first time the country  has nominees of different genders in a year’s Ballon d’Or awards.

Several Nigerians have earned a place in the thirty-people group of Ballon d’Or nominees over the years.

The first Nigerian nominees for the award got nominated in 1995, the year Liberia’s George Weah became the first African to lift the award. Their names were Jay Jay Okocha, Finidi George, and Daniel Amokachi.

Below is a deeper dive into the events.

Jay-Jay Okocha

He was nominated in the year 1995 while playing in Germany. The name of his club then was Eintracht Frankfurt, one of the teams in the Bundesliga. He was nominated the following year while still playing for the same club, but he got no votes in both of them.

Finidi George

George helped Ajax win the UEFA Champions League, thereby earning his place in the list. But that was all he got. At that time, he was playing for Real Betis, a Spanish club. This also happened in 1995.

Daniel Amokachi

Amokachi helped Everton to lift the FA Cup, thereby winning a seat with the nominees of the 1995 Ballon d’Or awards. He will finish his career without ending among the first five, having shared the twenty-first place with Franco Baresi.

 Kanu Nwankwo

The Nigerian was nominated twice (1996 and 1999) while playing for Inter Milan and Arsenal, respectively. He is the only Nigerian to have made it to the 11th place at the Ballon d’Or final result. His place was won by his exploit at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics, where his performance helped get his team the gold place.

Victor Ikpeba

He was nominated in 1997, and was the only Nigerian to be done so that year. He could not make it past the thirty-second place, however. But in the same year, he won the African Footballer of the Year.

Sunday Oliseh

Oliseh was the only Nigerian to be nominated in 1998. He was a Ajax Amsterdam midfielder in those days, and helped the Super Eagles in the just-concluded FIFA World Cup held in France.