Osimhen nominated for 2023 IFFHS Men’s World Best Player

Super Eagles and Napoli striker Victor Osimhen has been nominated for the 2023 International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) Men’s World Best Player for 2023.

IFFHS unveiled Osimhen alongside 24 other nominees for the award on their website.

Notable names shortlisted for the award include Lionel Messi – who is the current recipient of the award – Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Antoine Griezman and Bukayo Saka.

Also included are Vinicius Junior, Mohamed Salah, Martin Odegaard, Harry Kane, Kevin De Bruyne and Jude Bellingham.

Osimhen was impressive for Napoli last season as he played a key role in helping them win the league title.

It was Napoli’s first title since the 1989/90 season when the late Argentina legend Diego Maradona led them to their second title in their history.

Osimhen finished top scorer after scoring 26 goals, becoming the first African to achieve the feat.

The 24-year was named Italian Footballers’ Association (AIC) Serie A Player of the Year for the 2022/23 season.

He is in the running for the 2023 CAF Player of the Year award and will slug it out with Mohamed Salah and Achraf Hakimi.

Meanwhile, other categories for the 2023 IFFHS award include Best Playmaker, Best Goalkeeper, Best National Coach, Best Club Coach and Best Referee.

Since 1987, the IFFHS organize each year the votes and the statistics to crown the annual winners in all World categories.

The international jury is composed by the members of the IFFHS (sport journalists, football experts) from 120 countries of all continents in the World .

The IFFHS was the first to create the award for the World’s Best Player in 1988. Marco Van Basten (2) and Lothar Matthaus were the three winners (1988 to 1990) before former FIFA President Sepp Blatter asked IFFHS to give the award to FIFA to become FIFA World Player of the Year.

Since 2020, the IFFHS has decided to award again IFFHS World’s Player of the Year and in 2021, also added the IFFHS world’s Youth Player of the Year.