JJ Okocha: Ex-Senegal Star Explained Why Nigerian Legend Didn’t Win Ballon d’Or

• Austin Jay-Jay Okocha is widely regarded as the most talented footballer to come out of the African continent
• Okocha, despite his talents never won the big awards including the prestigious African Footballer of the Year
• A former Senegalese international has explained why JJ never won the awards especially the Ballon d'Or

Austin Jay-Jay Okocha is one of the greatest and most talented footballers to emerge out of Africa, but never captured the big awards that his career and talents deserved.

Okocha began his career with Enugu Rangers in the Nigerian league before moving to Germany, where he played for Borussia Neunkirchen and Eintracht Frankfurt.

He had a two-year stint with Turkish Super League giants Fenerbahce, during which he acquired Turkish citizenship and adopted the name Muhammed Yavuz.

He also played for Paris Saint-Germain for four years and it was the last top club he played for. From there he played for Bolton Wanderers, Qatar SC and Hull City before retiring.

On the international stage, he won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations and the Atlanta 1996 Olympics gold medal with the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

Beye explains why Okocha didn't win Ballon d'Or

The Nigerian football legend, despite his dazzling display and talents, did not play for the top clubs, nor did he win any top award, including the coveted African Footballer of the Year.

He was nominated for the Ballon d'Or in 1995, but did not receive any vote. Former Senegal star Habib Beye, during an interview in 2022 claimed he was talented enough to win, but did not because he did not play for the top clubs.

"Okocha is one of the great players who could not play in big clubs. Ronaldinho could have had two to four gold balloons. Jay Jay Okocha is such a talent and could have been too,” Beye told Canal plus as quoted by Afrique Sports.

Okocha speaks about 1998 CAF Awards

Okocha was nominated for the African Best Award three times, finishing second in 1998 and 2004 and third in 2004.

The 1998 loss to Morocco's Mustapha Hadji was controversial after Okocha had brilliant performances at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.

In a recent interview, he admitted that he did enough to have won it at some point in his career.

“I mean at some point, I thought I did enough to have won it, you know but I mean at the end of the day, I have to take it and say maybe that’s life, you know you can’t have it all,” he told Oma Sports TV.

“Maybe it wasn’t meant to be but of course, I thought that I deserved at least on one occasion to have won it.”

Okocha highlights his biggest regret

Legit.ng previously reported Okocha named the biggest regret of his career even though he admitted that he had a decent career and would be greedy to have asked for more.

However, he believes h regret not winning the African Footballer of the Year Award, because he looked back at some points where he could have done better.

Source: Legit.ng