Napoli Celebrates Ballon d’Or History-Maker, Osimhen

Napoli celebrated Victor Osimhen’s eight place finish at the Ballon d’Or on Monday, which made him their player to make the top 10 of the rankings, reports football-italia.net.

The Nigerian international significantly contributed to Napoli’s first Serie A title in 33 years, becoming the 2022-23 top-scorer in the league with 26 goals in 32 appearances. Napoli also reached the Champions League quarter-finals last season, the best result for the Partenopei in Europe’s elite competition.

Osimhen netted five times in six Champions League games last season and individual achievements, combined with Napoli’s results have allowed the 24-year-old to earn a spot in the top 10 of this year’s Ballon d’Or.

As reported by Giuseppe Pastore, this is the best result ever for a Napoli player, given that the previous record belonged to Ruud Krol, who ended 15th in 1980.

The other players included in the top 10 are Julian Alvarez, Kevin de Bruyne, Erling Haaland, Lylian Mbappé, Leo Messi, Luka Modric, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Vini Jr.

Osimhen’s teammate Khvicha Kvaratskhelia finished 17th, while Inter stars Lautaro Martinez and Nicolò Barella finished 20th and 27th respectively.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi won a record-breaking eighth Ballon d’Or at the awards in Paris.

The Inter Miami playmaker’s record-breaking win took him three ahead of Al-Nassr striker, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Messi’s former PSG team-mate Kylian Mbappe finished in third, while Kevin De Bruyne was in fourth. The Argentinian legend narrowly pipped Norwegian striker Erling Haaland to the award.