Asisat Oshoala becomes the first African Woman to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or award after an incredible season with the Barcelona female team.
Asisat Lamina Oshoala, a player for Nigeria, has been nominated for the Women’s Ballon d’Or Player of the Year award for 2022 due to her outstanding campaign with FC Barcelona in the Spanish top division.
Despite battling injuries for the majority of the season, the 27-year-old made the 20-woman shortlist thanks to her outstanding performance for FC Barcelona Femeni in the previous campaign. The Super Falcons star scored 20 goals in just 19 games to share the top scorer award with Geyse Ferreira of Barca.
Marie-Antoinette Katoto of PSG, Millie Bright of Chelsea, Trinity Rodman of Washington Spirit, Ada Hegerberg of Lyon, Selma Bacha of Lyon, Fridolina Rolfo of Barcelona, Vivianna Miedema of Arsenal, Lucy Bronze of Barcelona, Sam Kerr of Chelsea, Christiane Endler of Chelsea, and Lena Oberdorf of Wolfsburg are the other nominees for the Ballon d’Or.
Oshoala became the first African to win the prestigious award a record five times by defeating Ajara Nchout Njoya (Cameroon and Inter Milan) and Zambia international Grace Chanda (Zambia and BIIK Kazygurt) during the ceremony.
Oshoala was a member of the Super Falcon team that competed in the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, however, she only got to participate in one match before she sustained an injury that forced her to miss the entire competition. Later, in the playoff for third place, Nigeria was defeated by Zambia.
The 66th Ballon d’Or ceremony will take place in Paris, France on October 17 at the Theatre du Chatelet.
Ada Hegerberg of Lyon won the first-ever women’s Ballon d’Or in 2018, while Megan Rapinoe of the United States Women’s National Team took home the trophy in 2019. The COVID-19 epidemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 ceremony, and Oshoala’s club teammate Alexia Putellas won it in 2021.
Oshoala won the African Player of the Year award at the CAF Awards last month for a record sixth time, joining her earlier triumphs in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019.
She will also be hoping for success in the 66th Ballon D’or event, which will be held on October 17 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, France.
Who is Asisat Oshoala?
Asisat Lamina Oshoala MON, a striker for FC Barcelona Femen of the Primera División and the Nigerian women’s national team, was born in Nigeria on October 9, 1994.
She is the most decorated African female footballer of all time and a record five-time African Women’s Footballer of the Year. She is widely recognized as one of the greatest African female footballers of all time and one of the finest in the world.
How good is Oshoala?
Oshoala had success playing forward for Nigeria’s youth teams, but she began her senior national team career mostly as an offensive midfielder.
She was given the moniker “Seedorf” in honor of the male football player Clarence Seedorf, and her teammates have also called her “Superzee.”
Honors
Rivers Angels
- Nigerian Women’s Championship: 2014
- Nigerian Women’s Cup: 2013, 2014
Arsenal
- FA Women’s Cup: 2015–16
Dalian Quanjian F.C.
- Chinese Women’s Super League: 2017, 2018
FC Barcelona
- Primera División: 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22
- UEFA Women’s Champions League: 2020–21;
- Supercopa de España Femenina: 2019–20, 2021–22
- Copa de la Reina: 2019–20, 2020–21
Nigeria
- African Women’s Championship: 2014, 2016, 2018
- FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup runner-up: 2014
Individual
- BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year: 2015
- Queen of The Pitch Award: 2014
- African Women’s Footballer of the Year: 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022
- African Women’s Youth Player of the Year: 2014
- African Women’s Championship Golden Ball: 2014
- African Women’s Championship Golden Boot: 2016
- FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Golden Boot: 2014
- FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Golden Ball: 2014
- Primera División Top scorer: 2021–22
- Chinese Women’s Super League Top scorer: 2017
- IFFHS CAF Best Woman Player of the Decade 2011–2020
- IFFHS CAF Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020
- EaglesTracker Nigeria Women’s Most Valuable Player of the Season: 2020–21
