Super Falcons striker Asisat Oshoala has made the shortlist for the 2022 women’s Ballon d’Or.
This is coming weeks after the 27-year-old won the 2022 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Women’s Player of the Year award.
Despite being sidelined for some games due to injury, Oshoala won the Spanish league with Barcelona Femini, scoring 20 goals in just 19 games to share the top scorer award with Geyse Ferreira who played for Madrid CFF last season but is now a teammate of Oshoala.
The other Ballon d’Or nominees are 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), Lena Oberdorf (Wolfsburg), 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).
Lyon’s Ada Hegerberg won the maiden women’s Ballon d’Or back in 2018 while United States Women’s national team star Megan Rapinoe won the honours in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the 2020 ceremony to be cancelled.
The award resumed last year with Oshoala’s teammate in Barcelona Alexia Putellas becoming the third female player to win the prize.
The Ballon d’Or 2022 ceremony will take place on October 17, 2022, at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.
The African Player of the Year award which came in July was her fifth following her previous wins in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019.
