August 18, (THEWILL) – Asisat Oshoala of the Super Falcons and Barcelona Femeni, missed out on the coveted Ballon d’Or trophy after UEFA named teammate, Alexia Putellas, Arsenal’s Beth Mead, Wolfsburg’s Lena Oberdorf, as the top three finalists for the 2022 UEFA Women’s Player of the Year honour.
Oshoala was included in the 20-woman list of nominees for the 2022 Women’s Ballon d’Or that was announced last week, making the the Nigerian forward the first ever African woman to receive the honour.
The 27-year-old was nominated after she bested the African record of fellow countrywoman Perpetua Nkwocha’s four awards to win the CAF Women’s Player of the Year title for a record fifth time last month. The Lagos-born winner is the first African, male or female, to have received the honour in that many occasions.
Oshoala was at her best last season despite having limited playing time due to injuries. She was consistently on finding goals when she played, propelling Barca to an unprecedented unbeaten domestic league title where they neither lost nor drew a single match.
Last season, despite missing around seven weeks due to injury, Barcelona Femeni’s star forward tied with Madrid CFF’s Geyse Ferreira for highest number of goals scored in the Spanish topflight league with 20 goals in 19 games, making her the first African to take the Pichichi Award for most goals scored in the Spanish League. Unfortunately, she misses out of the Ballon d’Or as it is trimmed down ahead of the awards ceremony.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
