2019 The Best FIFA Football Awards without African flavour

Harry Awurumibe, Abuja.

African football stars could not shine brightly in this year’s edition of the annual The Best FIFA Football Awards held in Milan, Italy.

The world waited with great anticipation till Monday night for the unveiling of the winners in the various categories of the 2019 The Best FIFA Football Awards.

After the event which was watched by millions of football enthusiasts across the world, there were winners and losers.

The highpoint of the Awards ceremony which was attended by top football players, coaches and administrators including FIFA President, Mr. Gianni Ifantino, was the announcement of the FC Barcelona and Argentine super star, Lionel Messi as the 2019 FIFA Best Male Footballer of the Year Award. It was his sixth time of winning it.

In the female cadre, the United States of America’s poster girl, Megan Rapinoe carted home the FIFA Best female Footballer of the Year Award.

Both were also named in both 2019 FIFA Women’s Best XI and 2019 FIFA Men’s Best XI respectively, in a field dominated by European and Americans.

However, the African continent could not produce any winner of the individual awards just as there was no single African player in both the FIFA Men’s and Women’s Best XI inspite of the deluge of African players plying their trade in big European and American football Leaque.

With two top African players, Sadio Mane of Senegal and Egypt’s Mohammed Salah playing huge part in the 2018/2019 UEFA Champions Leaque victory of Liverpool FC, one would have thought that the duo will be named in the FIFA Men’s Best XI.

If Mane and Salah were not listed by FIFA then it was clear that no African women’s footballer will make the cut for the FIFA Women’s Best XI list.

The reason for over looking African women’s footballers by FIFA is not farfetched following African teams’ poor outing in the last FIFA Women”s World Cup final in France last summer.

Nigeria and Cameroon teams which managed to qualify for the round of 16 in France lost scandalously to their opponents and thus failed to make it to the quarter final, semi final and final stages.

South Africa, the third African representative in the global football fiesta lost her three group matches to crash out in the first round.

It is therefore not too surprising to know that no African women football player including 3-Time African Footballer of the Year Award winner, Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala, made the FIFA Women’s Best XI list.

The failure of African footballers to be named in the FIFA Best XI should be a source of worry for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to borrow a leave from other confederations especially Europe, South and North American confederations in the development of football in the continent.