Nigeria international Ademola Lookman has been nominated for the prestigious Ballon d'Or trophy, presented by France Football to honour the best footballer in the world. In the shortlist of 30, the 25-year-old is the only African featured.
The Ballon d'Or nominees list has featured eight Nigerians over the decades, especially since the mid-nineties, when the country's football first came to global attention.
Lookman is the latest to earn that distinction after a fine season during which he helped the Super Eagles reach the final of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), climaxing with a historic, match-winning performance for his club, Atalanta, in the UEFA Europa League final.
It remains to be seen just where Lookman will finish in the final standings, but he would certainly be content to end up with a placement that landed him among the top five finishes achieved by Nigerians in Ballon d'Or history.
For now, this is what that ranking looks like, in ascending order from lowest to highest.
Victor Ikepeba – 32nd, 1997
The 1996/97 season saw Ikpeba score 13 times in the league to help the Monegasque outfit to the title, while he finished second topscorer in the UEFA Cup; a particularly masterful performance across both legs of the latter competition's penultimate stage nearly saw him single-handedly drag his team into the final.
That stellar run saw Ikpeba named African Player of the Year, also coming 32nd in that year's Ballon d'Or standing.
Nwankwo Kanu – 23rd, 1999
Not many Arsenal fans would recall anything glamorous about Kanu at the time the Gunners signed him in February 1999 for a fairly modest — even by the standards of the time — £4.15 million from Inter Milan.
By the end of that year, however, he had become a firm fan favourite largely on the back of a reputation as a super-sub, as well as a famous 15-minute hat-trick at Stamford Bridge.
Those exploits helped crown Kanu as African Player of the Year for the second time — and rank him 23rd for the Ballon d'Or, level with Ronaldo and Hernan Crespo.
Finidi George – 21st, 1995
He may have played and shone at the World Cup a year before, but even George himself would concur 1995 holds a special place in his heart.
He spent the first half of that year finishing off a triumphant UEFA Champions League campaign with Ajax Amsterdam, and the latter half commencing another wonderful run that saw Louis van Gaal's team almost successfully defend that title.
It was almost criminal that George, a regular in that great Ajax side, did not even make the top three of his home continent's Player of the Year award; the Ballon d'Or did him justice, though, with only one African, namesake George Weah, placing higher — even if a good 20 places clear, at the very summit of the list.
Nwankwo Kanu – 11th, 1996
Kanu. Atalanta. 1996. Surely, you know the story about how one lanky kid barely out of his teens introduced himself to the world at the Summer Olympics with a deceptively languid style, seizing control of a semi-final against the might of Brazil, and setting his nation on its way to becoming the first from Africa to win gold in football.
Kanu, who was already making a name for himself at Ajax, thereby sealed the first of two African Player of the Year gongs, and quite deservedly beat several top players — including the likes of Weah, Gabriel Batistuta, Raul, Paolo Maldini, Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane — to emerge 11th in the Ballon d'Or stakes.
Victor Osimhen – 8th, 2023
A quarter of a century had passed without a Nigerian receiving a Ballon d'Or nomination before Victor Osimhen ended that barren run last year.
His 26 chart-topping goals led Napoli to rare Serie A glory in 2023, ensuring Osimhen did not face much of a contest for the African Player of the Year prize.
And for the Ballon d'Or, quite impressively, the striker sprung to the highest spot any Nigerian has ever managed — a remarkable eighth.
