A series of Nigerian football icons including Jay Jay Okocha, Kanu Nwankwo, and John Mikel Obi were left out of the 25 greatest African athletes of the 21st century list.
In the 25 greatest African athletes of the 21st century list released by American publication, ESPN, Ethiopia’s long-distance runner, Kenenisa Bekele is said to be the greatest athlete the continent has ever seen from the year 2000 to date, followed by a Kenya distance runner, Eliud Kipchoge.
Cameroonian football icon, Samuel Eto’o is the first footballer to appear on the list as he occupies the third spot, followed by a swimmer from Zimbabwe, Kirsty Coventry, and Ethiopian female distance runner, Tirunesh Dibaba.
Surprisingly, only five Nigerian athletes made it into the 25 greatest African athletes of the 21st century list. They are: Asisat Oshoala who is ranked 9th on the list, Israel Adesanya ranked 15, and Perpetua Nkwocha ranked 20th.
Other Nigerians on the list are: Former UFC Welterweight Champion, Kamaru Usman ranked 23rd, and New York Giants legend Osi Umenyiora ranked 24th.
To the surprise of many, in the list in which Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba, and even Perpetual found a spot, Kanu and Obi who won everything the aforementioned players won and more, weren’t included.
Kanu won league titles in Nigeria, Netherlands (multiple times), and of course at Arsenal (twice). He also won the Champions League once with Ajax and played in the final twice. To crown it all, he won Africa its first gold in football at the Olympics (1966). Yet, he wasn’t deemed fit for a place on the list.
The same argument can be applied to Mikel Obi who also won virtually everything in both club and international football. He even won a bronze medal at the Olympics, a title other footballers who made the list can’t boast of.
Based on the key factors that were used to compile the list which includes the performance of the athletes and the number of major titles won since 2000, it is understandable that the highly skilful Jay Jay Okocha didn’t make the list but can the same be said about the exclusion of Kanu Nwankwo and John Mikel Obi?