In a year that could probably be written off as one that the Super Eagles greatly struggled to find form, perhaps with the exception of the second place finish at the last African Cup of Nations, the nomination of Ademola Lookman for the prestigious Ballon D’Or award could be very significant for the Nigerian football ecosystem.
The nomination highlights Lookman’s exceptional contributions to his club, Atalanta, particularly during the 2022/23 season, where he played a pivotal role in Atalanta’s Europa League triumph.
The 26-year-old forward was instrumental in Atalanta’s first-ever European trophy by scoring a hat-trick against Bayer Leverkusen in May, which ultimately helped the Italian side lift the Europa League. The defeat handed to Leverkusen, obviously orchestrated by the Super Eagles star, also ended Leverkusen’s unbeaten run and the player’s nomination equally makes him the only African player featured in this year’s 30-man Ballon d’Or shortlist.
Analysts believe that Lookman has taken time to fulfil his potential, but 2024 has undoubtedly been his best year to date.
The 26-year-old scored three goals and was one of Nigeria’s best players as the Super Eagles made the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year before losing 2-1 to hosts, Ivory Coast.
He also scored 11 goals to help his Italian club side finish fourth in Serie A, earning a place in this season’s Uefa Champions League.
But, lie earlier mentioned, his best moment came in May’s Europa League final when he scored that hat-trick to help Atalanta beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 to lift the trophy and inflict the German club’s only defeat of the season in the process.
Despite being linked with a move to Paris St-Germain during the European summer transfer window, Lookman has stayed in Bergamo and fans in Italy and West Africa alike will be watching keenly to see if he can build on his success.
Significantly, the nomination of Lookman makes him the eighth Nigerian player to be nominated for the prestigious award and this recognition is part of a resurgence for Nigeria in the Ballon d’Or, with two players – Lookman and Osimhen – making the final 30-man shortlist in consecutive years—reminiscent of Nigeria’s Ballon d’Or success between 1995 and 1999 when three players made the prestigious list.
Reminiscently, in 1995, Finidi George, Daniel Amokachi and Austin Okocha were all nominated. Of the three, only Finidi George broke into the top 30, finishing 21st with six votes, while Amokachi and Okocha received no votes.
Kanu Nwankwo emerged a year later, finishing 11th in 1996 with 14 votes, just ahead of George Weah, who placed 12th that year. Kanu would receive another Ballon d’Or nomination in 1999, finishing 23rd. Other Nigerian nominees during this period included Victor Ikpeba (32nd in 1997) and Sunday Oliseh (1998, with no votes).
While Lookman aims for a possible top-three finish, he faces a significant challenge to equal the highest-ranked African player in Ballon d’Or history, George Weah, who won the award in 1995. Since Weah’s victory, no African player has made it to the top three.
Didier Drogba came closest in 2007, finishing fourth behind Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Lookman now has the opportunity to rewrite history and build on the legacy of African and Nigerian players in the Ballon d’Or, especially after his standout performance in the Europa League final in May and the last African Cup of Nations this year.
On a wider note in the 2024 Ballon D’Or list, the Atalanta forward is part of a field which includes six players from both England and Spain after those two sides reached the final of Euro 2024 in Germany.
Among them is Lamine Yamal – the Barcelona winger who only turned 17 in July – who has both Moroccan and Equatorial Guinean heritage.
There are a combined eight players nominated from Manchester City and Arsenal, who finished first and second respectively in the Premier League, but for the first time since 2003 neither Cristiano Ronaldo or last year’s winner Lionel Messi make the list.
But the immediate expectation from the Lookman nomination, some Nigerians have argued, will be to surpass his compatriot and current African Footballer of the Year, Victor Osimhen, who placed eighth last year and remained the highest ranked Nigerian in the history of Ballon D’Or.
Meanwhile, according to Nigerians, the nomination of Osimhen last year and the current nomination of Lookman should challenge the development of the game at the grassroots in order to replicate the glorious era of 1990s when Nigerian players regularly made the nominations, with Nwankwo Kanu even earning two nominations in 1996 and 1999.
A peep into that era which has continued to get rave reviews from Nigerians which produced what has come to be known as the golden generation of Nigerian players, will show how Nigerian players dominated the topmost continental individual awards. That golden era between 1993 and 1999 saw Nigerians dominated the African Footballer of the Year award recipients and the spiral effect was the continued nominations for the Ballon D’Or awards.
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For example, in 1993, late Rashidi Yekini won the first African top award by any Nigerian and the following year, Emmanuel Amuneke was the recipient; after George Weah, in 1995, got the honour in his triple recognition as the European, African and World Footballer of the Year, the following year saw Nwankwo Kanu being honoured as African Footballer of the Year. In 1997, Victor Ikpeba grabbed the honour and Mustapha Hadji from Morocco came forth in 1998 before Kanu completed his brace, winning the award in 1999.
It was also the same era that the Super Eagles made highest leapt in the FIFA World Ranking. They entered the USA 94 World Cup as the fifth best team in the world and after the World Cup, they dropped three places to eighth and the slump, however, continued. That was the time Nigerians regularly saw nominations for the country’s players and analysts are of the view that such era should be recreated through sustained development of the game from the grassroots.
According to Henry Nwosu, former international, the nomination of Osimhen last year and then Lookman this year should remind Nigerians of that era and this should be the push for drastic development of the grassroots in order to produce more of such players.
“We have talented players in Nigeria; we have many Osimhens and Lookmans but we have to discover them,” he was quoted as saying.
“I think this is the time to go back to the grassroots and ensure school sports come alive once again. Most of us started from there and if we must continue to produce top players, we have to go back to the basics,” he said.
A former chairman of Gombe State Sports Commission, Malam Farouk Yarma, has charged Nigerian players to up their ante and ensure they continue to get nominations. This is as he congratulated Lookman on the nomination and said it is well-deserved.
“The nomination of Lookman is not coming to me as a surprise because of his outstanding performance for Atlanta, both in the league and the Europa Cup.
“His hat-trick which he scored in a spectacular fashion is still fresh in the memory of everyone. It would have been a serious mistake, if the organisers of the award didn’t include his name.
“I am confident that he will give the other nominees a hot chase for the coveted trophy. I wish him good luck.
“I want more Nigerian players to toe this path and perform to the point of such recognition because this is a product of hard work and resilience,” said Yarma who is the proprietor of FC Yarmalight.
Etim Esin, on his own, said the nomination of Lookman for the prestigious global award is very significant for Nigerians, saying it showed that gradually, Nigerian footballers are getting back to the top.
The former midfield maestro said this is also a call for action from the Nigeria Football Federation to dig deep and ensure that the country continues to produce quality players for the future.
“I congratulate Lookman for this feat; he is very talented as all of us saw at the last AFCON,” he said.
“This shows that gradually, Nigerian players are regaining their position as some of the best players from Africa.
“But I think the NFF has a role to place in ensuring we maintain this momentum which started when Victor Osimhen was nominated.
“NFF should dig deeper to make sure that we produce quality players that can sustain this nomination. We should not just relax but there should be a programme in place to get talents from the grassroots,” he said.
Sunday Oliseh, former captain and coach of the Super Eagles, has congratulated Lookman for this feat, welcoming him to the ‘club’ of Nigerian players with Ballon D’Or nominations.
“Congratulations to Ademola Lookman for joining this exclusive list of Nigerians who were worldwide acclaimed! Naija’s all-time magnificent 7 just became THE MAGNIFICENT 8. Delighted and welcome to the Club Lil bro.”
Meanwhile, according to the organisers, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris will host the 2024 Ballon d’Or awards ceremony on October 28, with nominations spanning various continents.
