Victor Osimhen to battle Hakimi, Salah and Mahrez for 2023 CAF Player of the Year award

As expected, Napoli and Nigerian striker, Victor Osimineh, has been nominated for the 2023 CAF Africa Men’s Player of the Year award.

This is after CAF confirmed the 30-man nominees on their website on Wednesday.

Osimineh will go against several stars plying their trade in Europe and Asia including Mohamed Salah, Riyad Mahrez, Sadio Mane, Hakim Ziyech, Sofyan Amrabat, Yassine Bounou, Achraf Hakimi and Mohammed Kudus for this award.

The Napoli striker will hope to become the first Nigerian to win this award since Nwankwo Kanu in 1999.

Osimineh finished as Serie A topscorer last season with 26 goals that helped his side win the first League title since 1989/90 season.

He was also named the best foreign athlete in Italy and became the first-ever African to win the Serie A Golden Boot.

Additionally, he finished the 2023 AFCON qualifiers as the leading top scorer with 10 goals.

He finished in the eighth position for the 2023 Ballon d’Or award.

Mane was crowned CAF African Player of the Year last year in Rabat, Morocco.

Full list of Nominees

1. Ramy Bensebaini (Algeria and Borussia Dortmund)
2. Riyad Mahrez (Algeria and Al Ahli)
3. Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso and Bayer Leverkusen)
4. Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Cameroon and SSC Napoli)
5. Vincent Aboubacar (Cameroon and Besiktas)
6. Ibrahima Sangare (Cote d’Ivoire and Nottingham Forest)
7. Seko Fofana (Cote d’Ivoire and Al Nassr)
8. Chancel Mbemba (DR Congo and Olympique Marseille)
9. Fiston Mayele (DR Congo and Pyramids)
10. Mahmoud Abdel Moneim “Kahraba” (Egypt and Ahly)
11. Mohamed Abdelmonem (Egypt and Al Ahly)
12. Mohamed ElShenawy (Egypt and Al Ahly)
13. Mohamed Salah (Egypt and Liverpool)
14. Mohammed Kudus (Ghana and West Ham United)
15. Thomas Partey (Ghana and Arsenal)
16. Serhou Guirassy (Guinea and VfB Stuttgart)
17. Yves Bissouma (Mali and Tottenham Hotspur)
18. Achraf Hakimi (Morocco and Paris Saint-Germain)
19. Azzedine Ounahi (Morocco and Olympique Marseille)
20. Hakim Ziyech (Morocco and Galatasaray)
21. Sofyan Amrabat (Morocco and Manchester United)
22. Yahya Jabrane (Morocco and Wydad Athletic Club)
23. Yassine Bounou (Morocco and Al Hilal)
24. Youssef En-Nesyri (Morocco and Sevilla)
25. Peter Shalulile (Namibia and Mamelodi Sundowns)
26. Victor Osimhen (Nigeria and SSC Napoli)
27. Sadio Mane (Senegal and Al Nassr)
28. Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal and Tottenham Hotspur)
29. Percy Tau (South Africa and Al Ahly)
30. Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane (Tunisia and Ferencvaros)