AN X account, @Yabaleftonline, has claimed that Victor Osimhen was born the year former Super Eagles forward, Kanu Nwankwo, was crowned African Footballer of the Year by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in 1999.
Napoli striker and Nigerian international, Osimhen emerged 2023 African Footballer of the Year in the men’s category at the awards ceremony in Marrakesh on Monday, beating Egypt’s Mohamed Salah and Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi to become the first Nigerian to claim this accolade since Kanu Nwankwo in 1999.
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Following the event, Yabaleftonline posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Victor Osimhen becomes the first Nigerian to win the award since Nwankwo Kanu won it in 1999, the year Victor Osimhen was born.”
The claim has generated over 470,000 views, more than 2,000 reposts and over 21,000 likes as of December 15, 2023.
CLAIM
Victor Osimhen was born the year Kanu won the African Footballer of the Year.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
Osimhen became the first Nigerian to win the CAF men’s Player of the Year since Nwankwo Kanu in 1999.
Kanu is still the only Nigerian player to win the award twice and the last Nigerian to win it before Osimhen.
Several public records such as ones on Eurosport, and Soccerway show that Osimhen was born on December 12, 1998 – the year before Kanu won African Footballer of the Year (male category) in 1999. This indicates that Osimhen was born before Kanu clinched the award in 1999.
Further checks show that Moroccan midfielder Mustapha Hadji was named African Footballer of the Year by CAF in 1998. This coincides with the year Victor Osimhen was born.
THE VERDICT
The claim that Victor Osimhen was born the year Kanu won the African Footballer of the Year is FALSE; information available in public domains revealed that Osimhen was born before Kanu achieved the feat in 1999.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
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