Why I never won African Player of the Year award – Okocha

Nigerian football legend Austin “Jay-Jay” Okocha has opened up on why he believes he never won the African Player of the Year award despite enjoying an illustrious career.

Okocha was responding to a question, while on the ObiOne podcast, about whether his failure to secure a move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs may have affected his chances of winning the prestigious individual award.

The former Super Eagles captain dismissed the suggestion, insisting that playing for a top club was not necessarily the reason he missed out.

“No, no, no, not really. Not really,” Okocha said.

However, he admitted that football politics may have influenced the voting process during his playing days.

“I mean, I can openly say now that then, of course, a lot of football politics was in place, you know,” he said.

“Because some people, some players, they played in big clubs, they won everything but…” he added.

Okocha also highlighted his success at the BBC African Footballer of the Year awards, where he won the prize twice in succession.

“Well, I won everything, yeah. So what do you need to win to, you know, what are the criteria?” he asked.

“You know, I won BBC Player of the Year twice in a row, but I still didn’t win it.”

Despite coming close to winning the African Player of the Year award, Okocha said he has learned to accept that some things simply do not happen.

“So when you look at it, some things are not meant to be,” he said.

According to Okocha, the more important consideration is what a player achieves and takes from their career.

“And you just, the most important thing is, what did you make of your career? What did you get out of your career, you know?” he added.

Okocha remains one of Africa’s most decorated and influential footballers, having represented clubs including Eintracht Frankfurt, Fenerbahçe, Paris Saint-Germain and Bolton Wanderers.