Ballon d’Or 2023: Osimhen Beats Salah, Lewandowski, Modric, Finish Eight In Final Rankings

LAGOS OCTOBER 31ST (NEWSRANGERS)-Victor Osimhen has made history to finish in eighth place in the 2023 Ballon d’Or rankings. The striker beat the likes of Mohamed Salah, Robert Lewandowski, 2018 winner Luka Modric, 2021 winner Karim Benzema and treble-winning captain Ilkay Gündogan.

This finish places him in African history alongside President George Weah, Nwankwo Kanu, Sadio Mané and Salah himself, who is one of four players to have made the last five Ballon d’Or nominees list.

It is a thing of pride for fans of the Nigeria national football team and for Victor Osimhen himself, who had faced many challenges in his career.

Victor Osimhen Ballon d’Or finish: The journey to greatness

Victor Osimhen may not have won the 2023 Ballon d’Or because competing with and winning against a phenomenon like Lionel Messi on the individual level is something not many players can manage.

The Super Eagles ace made history with the nomination after making history with one of the best individual seasons that the Italian Serie A has ever come across.

The league that has produced legends like Diego Armando Maradona after whom Napoli’s stadium is named, Paolo Maldini, Carlo Ancelotti, Marco Van Basten, Alessandro Del Piero, President George Weah and more will now see their history books include the name of the boy from Olusosun.

Facing off against the likes of Lautaro Martinez, Olivier Giroud, Edin Dzeko, Romelu Lukaku and the likes, Osimhen came out tops to win the  2022/23 Capocannoniere award for top scorer. Not only did he break a Napoli record with the win, he also brought immense joy to the Partenopei by giving them a Scudetto title to celebrate after 33 years.

As a result, the cream of the crop in European football is going after his signature and the former LOSC Lille man is threatening the position of the likes of Nwankwo Kanu, John Obi Mikel and Augustine “Jay Jay” Okocha as Nigeria’s most recognisable football icons.

He has been recognised as the eighth best footballer from the 2022/23 football season beating the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Bukayo Saka, Harry Kane, FIFA World Cup winner Lautaro Martinez and many more. Here are the full rankings of the 2023 Ballon d’Or awards.

Victor Osimhen Ballon d’Or final ranking: Goalball Live assessment

When the 2023 Ballon d’Or nominees list came out with the name Victor Osimhen included in it, Goalball Live made a prediction.

According to our analysis of the 24-year-old striker’s competition, we believed that he would finish in seventh place in the final rankings. France Football, the organisers of the awards, culled the votes which could only earn him an eighth-place finish which is not wide off the mark.

Eighth place is fair for his exploits because of the weight of the individual and collective accolades of the players occupying seventh place and above. However, we at Goalball Live feel that names like Vinicius Jnr and Julian Alvarez finishing above Osimhen are debatable.

This article was most recently revised and updated 2 hours ago

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Posted by News Rangers on Oct 31 2023. Filed under National, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry