Asisat Oshoala of Nigeria has won the prestigious African Women’s Player of the Year award for a record-extending sixth time.
The Barcelona star was named 2023 CAF Women’s Player of the Year at the award ceremony in the Moroccan city of Marrakech, extending her dominance in the continent’s women’s game.
Oshoala won the award in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2022, defeating South Africa’s Thembi Kgatlana and Zambia’s Barbara Banda to claim the latest honour that solidified her place in the continent’s women’s game.
“This night, I would love to use this opportunity to thank everyone who has been part of my journey from grassroots football to the national level to the club side. Because without you, my coaches, and my teammates, there will be no me,” Oshoal said in her acceptance speech.
“Football is a team sport; it’s a team game and I urge all the federations in Africa to please come together; let’s work together and build our continent. Let’s make it the best in the world.
“It is very possible; it happened in the last men’s World Cup; we saw what happened, and we shocked the world. In the last World Cup, all the national teams that represented Africa in Australia made history.
“And I believe that before the next World Cup, we can get better, we can do better and we can win it for sure. Because at the end of the day, if we don’t support ourselves, nobody will come to Africa; nobody will come to this continent to support us.
“We have to work together as a team because football is a team sport. Let’s start at home and go to the world and conquer it.”
Nigeria Shines In Morocco
Last season, Oshoala won the treble including the Champions League with the Spanish side. On the domestic front, she got the Pichichi, for being the joint-top scorer in the league – 27 goals. She also scored once as Nigeria reached the World Cup round of 16 in New Zealand and Australia.
The Nigerian is the first to win the accolades six times and was also nominated for this year’s Ballon d’Or prize.
Her compatriot Victor Osimhen also shone on the night in Morocco, winning the CAF Men’s Player of the Year. Teammate Chiamaka Nnadozie’s World Cup heroics earned her the Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year gong.