Ballon d’Or 2023: Oshoala nominated for Socrates award

Asisat Oshoala, Super Falcons striker, has been nominated for the 2023 Socrates award.

The France Football Magazine, the organisers of the Ballon d’Or, announced the five nominees for the prize, named after Socrates, the Brazilian football legend, on Friday.

The 28-year-old Women’s African player of the year has been put up for the award, which was introduced last year to reward players for their charity work outside of football.

Here are all our #SocratesAward with @peaceandsport nominees! 👊✨

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Alex Morgan
Asisat Oshoala
Marcus Rashford
Antonio Rüdiger
Vinícius Júnior#ballondor #PrixSocrates pic.twitter.com/GyTzgLwl0W

— Ballon d'Or (@ballondor) July 7, 2023

Oshoala was nominated for her work through the eponymous football academy she established in Nigeria.

“The Asisat Oshoala Academy aims to give access to its beneficiaries to high-quality football training as well as education on life skills. The organisation’s will is to empower young women through both sport and education and to turn the beneficiaries into role models for the community and ambassadors of the values and skills they learnt,” the organisers wrote.

Other footballers shortlisted for the award are Vinicius Junior, Antonio Rudiger, Marcus Rashford, and Alex Morgan.

The winner will be announced during the Ballon d’Or gala later in the year.

Sadio Mane was the maiden recipient of the award in 2022 for his outstanding charitable works in Senegal.

Meanwhile, the nominees in the categories for the men and women Ballon d’Or award, Yachine Trophy and Kopa Trophy will be unveiled on September 6.