Pitch Awards: Osimhen, Bassey, Lookman, clinch nomination for ‘King of the Pitch’

Victor Osimhen, Super Eagles and Galatasaray striker; Calvin Bassey, Fulham left-back and Ademola Lookman, Atalanta forward have been nominated for the highly coveted ‘King of the Pitch’ category of the Nigeria Pitch Awards.

Our correspondent reports that organisers of the annual soccer awards announced nominees for the 12th edition at a stakeholders’ luncheon on Tuesday in Abuja.

Osimhen tops the nomination list with nods in three categories, including the Sam Okwaraji Awards, and the Rashidi Yekini Award For the Best Striker alongside Ademola Lookman and Anas Yusuf of Nasarawa United.

Bassey also got nominated for the Defender of the Year category of the awards alongside defence sensation Benjamin Frederick and Ola Aina of Nottingham Forest.

This is the seventh time Osimhen is getting a nomination for the ‘King of the Pitch’ category, having won it for three consecutive times, and Ademola Lookman is seeking his second win after clinching the 11th edition.

Super Falcons stars Chiamaka Nnadozie, Rasheedat Ajibade, and Esther Okoronkwo secured nominations for the ‘Queen of the Pitch’ (Women) category, highlighting their outstanding performances over the past year for both clubs and country.

The ‘Midfielder of the Year’ nominees include Alex Iwobi, Frank Onyeka, Raphael Onyedika and Wilfred Ndidi.

For shot stoppers, Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye got nomination for ‘Goalkeeper of the Year’ alongside Chippa United’s Stanley Nwabali and Remo Stars’ Kayode Bankole.

For ‘Coach of the Year’, Finidi George (Rivers United),Daniel Ogunmodede (Remo Stars), and WAFCON 2024 winning coach Justin Madugu got nominations.

The Super Falcons, Remo Stars FC, Rivers United FC, and the Super Falcons are listed to contend for the ‘Team of the Year’.

Other categories announced by the organisers include ‘Football Pitch of the Year’, with MKO Abiola Int’l Stadium, Abeokuta, Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo and Remo Stars Stadium, Ogun securing nominations.

Delta, Kwara and Lagos are to compete for the ‘State with the Best Grassroots Football Development Programme’ award, and the ‘Corporate Sponsor of Football Award’ has Bet9ja, GTI Financial and MTN Nigeria as nominees.

Umo Eno of Akwa-Ibom, Dapo Abiodun of Ogun and Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos got nominated for the ‘Football Friendly Governor of the Year Category’.

Other categories announced by the organisers include the ‘Sportmanship Award and the ‘Football Journalist of the Year’(Print, TV, Radio,Online).

Earlier in his speech, Mr Shina Philips, President, Nigeria Pitch Awards, commended members of the College of Voters across the country for their professionalism and dedication.

According to him, the emergence of the nominees for the 12th award ceremony has followed stringent guidelines which have been in operation since its inception.

He said the choice of the award categories was part of the organisers’policy to deliberately target and highlight the contributions of individual footballers, coaches, administrators, journalists and other stakeholders.

“The Nigeria Pitch Awards is a platform established to inspire individual footballers and key stakeholders to higher levels of commitment and professionalism.

“It also serves as a catalyst for government and corporate entities to dedicate more resources to the development of sports in Nigeria.

“While rewarding hard work and patriotism, the Nigeria Pitch Awards platform concomitantly plays a pivotal role by alerting government and administrators to the need to re-engineer our sports processes.

“It also draws government attention to the need to renew our sports infrastructure, and stimulate national interest in developing sports as a viable, revenue-generating industry. We see this as our enduring desire,” he said.

Philips said the 12th edition will recognise Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) with the Special Achievement in Sports Award.

He said the recognition was for the NDDC’s commitment to the development of sports through the Niger Delta Games, a Sports initiative committed to raising sports stars in the region.

The president said plans were underway to begin an annual international sports conference as part of the annual award ceremony.

According to him, the date and venue for the conference and the 12th Award Ceremony will be announced shortly after the upcoming AFCON in Morocco.

Our correspondent reports that the stakeholders’ luncheon was attended by football administrators, partners, sports editors, members of the College of Voters, and media representatives.