Nigerian football legend Austin Jay-Jay Okocha has explained that his biggest football career regret is not winning the CAF African best Player of the year award before he retired.
There is no doubt about the fact that Okocha was one of the best African players during his active playing time considering his superb dribbling skills.
Okocha was a joy to watch for all the clubs he played for during his playing career and was also a blessing for the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
Brazilian star Ronaldinho confessed years back that he learnt so many things from Okocha during their time at Paris-Saint-Germain.
Ronaldinho went on to win the Ballon d’or in which Okocha never won in his football career.
Legendary German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn also made it clear that he would never forget what Okocha did to him on the pitch when he was active.
Despite Okocha’s superb form years back, the former Bolton midfielder did not win the CAF Player of the year award.
He won the Britsih Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) version of the award twice, but failed to pick the CAF honor.
“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.
Okocha played 73 games for the Super Eagles and 14 goals before he retired from football.
Earlier, Anaedoonline.ng had reported how English professional footballer Adebayo Akinfenwa explained that he had interest in playing for the Super Eagles of Nigeria when he was young.
The country’s senior national team has not been in action since their 4-2 victory over Lesotho in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers last year November.
Coach Gernot Rohr’s men were scheduled to take on Sierra Leone in March but coronavirus pandemic forced all football activities to be postponed.
The virus has also made the topmost championship on the continent to be moved from January 2021 to the following year.
However, the football apex body’s chief has however hinted that the three-time AFCON champions will face opposition from South America and Africa.
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