Nigeria legend Austine Okocha says he regrets not winning the CAF African Footballer of the Year award during his playing days, reports Completesports.com.
Okocha won the Britsih Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) version of the award twice, but failed to pick the CAF honour.
The talented midfielder was widely tipped to win the award in 1998 following a superlative performance for the Super Eagles at the FIFA World Cup in France, but surprisingly lost out to Morocco’s Mustapha Hadji.
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Okocha also came third twice in 2003 and 2004 , behind the duo of Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba.
“I thought I did enough to have won it because it wasn’t a fluke that I won the BBC POTY twice in a row and didn’t manage to win the CAF awards, may be it wasn’t meant to be,” Okocha was quoted by MastercardMEA.
The 46-year-old won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations with the Super Eagles and was part of the side that came second in the 2000 edition co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria.
The former Bolton Wanderers star was also part of the squad that came third thrice in 2002, 2004 and 2006.
Okocha scored 14 goals in 73 appearances for Nigeria.
By Adeboye Amosu
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COMMENTS
It’s strange you lost in 1998. Politics and the inefficient selection style robbed you. I believe caf must have regretted their actions too. Anyway, you are an African legend. The greatest number 10 to come out of Africa. A poll on caf Twitter handle confirmed this. Thank you for showing us and the world how beautiful the football game is.
Hey, buddy “Weep Not Child” as the reverent Kenyan novelist, Ngugi Wa Thiongo wrote. Painful as this may appear, we can’t bend the hands of fate. We all know your worth. Many players have openly confirmed that they learnt tricks from you.
If CAF or FIFA has a slot for one overaged player, I’m sure you’ll snap up that spot. . . or wrestle it with King Kanu.
to be frank,jay jay fu**ked up in his transfer decisions.
the like of kanu, drogba,etoo etc played at top clubs and that made it easier for them.
some of these players that won it in his playing days didn’t have the type of talent he had but the got awards to show for their little talent,but him that had it all couldn’t win much to show for his mind blowing talent.
i think his decisions to turn down big offers and play for small clubs caused him alot of things.
We all knew you were robbed, but your playing career speaks volume. Let them continue with there politics in CAF