Organizers of the Ballon d’Or awards, France football, have rolled out the nominees for this year’s honours with Super Eagles star Samuel Chuwkuweze nominated in the Kopa Trophy category.
The Kopa Trophy category was introduced last year and it is given to the best player aged U-21. Kylian Mbappe was the first recipient of the award but he is not among the nominees this year.
Leading the ten-man list for this year’s award is Super Eagles and Villarreal star, Samuel Chukwueze. The Nigerian international was nominated alongside Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix, Valencia’s Kang-In-Lee, Juventus Matthijs De Ligt, Arsenal’s Matteo Guendouzi, Everton’s Moise Kean, Bayer Leverkusen’s Kai Haverzt, Real Valladolid’s Andriy Lunin, Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho and Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior.
Chukwueze has been a revelation for club and country in the last one year. The 20-year-old was one of the breakout stars in La Liga last season and that earned him a spot in Super Eagles squad that finished third at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
Also, the 30 man nominees for the Ballon d’Or award was announced with Liverpool leading the way with seven nominees. Virgil Van Dijk, Mo Salah, Gini Wijnaldum, Sadio Mane, Trent Alexander Arnold and Alisson Becker are the seven Reds on the list. Perennial winners of the awards, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi also featured on the star studded list.
The nominees were announced on Monday evening by France Football with the winner set to be announced on December 2 in a glamorous ceremony at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.