Napoli's Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen reacts after scoring his side's second goal during the Italian Serie A football match between Sassuolo and Napoli on February 17, 2023 at the Citta del tricolore stadium in Sassuolo. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP)
Victor Osimhen has won the Serie A Golden Boot for scoring the highest number of goals in the 2022/23 campaign. The feat makes him the first African to scoop the prize.
The Napoli star scored 26 goals in 32 matches, edging his closest rival Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez to land the highly coveted “Capocannoniere” prize.
Osimhen had already scored 25 goals before Napoli’s Sunday game against Sampdoria. But in the match, he scored from the spot as his club won 2-0.
“This season has been brilliant for me, for my teammates, and for Napoli. We deserved this,” Osimhen told DAZN before discussing whether he might leave in a big-money summer move.
“I don’t know, the president has to decide that. I love the people of Napoli, they have shown me so much love. For me, I don’t mind, the president decides and I will just go with the flow.”
The Nigerian’s goals were instrumental as Napoli clinched their first league title in 33 years and their third overall.
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Earlier, the Super Eagle scooped the Best Striker award for his efforts.
Sunday’s award comes after years of attempts by Africans to land the Serie A Golden Boot. While the continent’s only Ballon d’Or winner George Weah played in Italy, he could not win it.
Osimhen’s compatriot Simy Nwankwo challenged for the Capocannoniere in the 2020/21 campaign. He scored 20 league goals for Crotone but finished nine strikes behind eventual winner Cristiano Ronaldo.
Cameroonian legend Samuel Eto’o appeared to be the closest African to landing the gong in the 2010/2011 season.
He netted 21 league goals which were five shy of Napoli’s Edinson Cavani’s strikes and seven behind the winner Antonio Di Natale of Udinese who scored 28 goals.
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