Nigeria forward Asisat Oshoala has made the shortlist for the 2022 Women’s Ballon d’Or player of the year award.
The 27-year-old will battle it out with 20 other players for the prestigious award, with the winner set to be announced on October 17 in Paris.
Asisat made the 20-woman shortlist following her superb display for FC Barcelona Femeni in the last campaign.
Despite struggling with injury for the better part of the season, Oshoala emerged joint top scorer in the Primera Division after notching 20 goals from 19 games.
The other Ballon d’Or nominees include Marie-Antoinette Katoto (PSG), Millie Bright (Chelsea), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), Ada Hegerberg (Lyon), Selma Bacha (Lyon), Fridolina Rolfo (Barcelona), Vivianna Miedema (Arsenal), Lucy Bronze (Barcelona), Sam Kerr (Chelsea), Christiane Endler (Lyon), and Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg).
Others are Kadidatou Diani (PSG), Catarina Macario (Lyon), Alexia Putellas (Barcelona), Alexandra Popp (Wolfsburg), Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona), Wendie Renard (Lyon), Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave) and Beth Mead (Arsenal).
Her nomination for the award comes just three weeks after she was named the 2022 African Women’s Player of the Year at the Caf Awards ceremony in Rabat, Morocco.
During the ceremony, Oshoala won the award ahead of Ajara Nchout Njoya (Cameroon and Inter Milan) and Zambia international Grace Chanda (Zambia and BIIK Kazygurt) to become the first African to win the prestigious award a record five times.
Oshoala was part of the Super Falcon squad that took part in the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations but she only played in one game – the 2-1 opening defeat against South Africa – and sustained an injury that ruled her out of the tournament.
Nigeria went on to lose to Zambia in the third-place playoff. The ceremony for the 66th Ballon D’or will be held on October 17 at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France.
