18th December, 2014
Nigeria and Lille Metropole Goal Tender, Vincent Enyeama says he should have been crowned the BBC African Player of the Year but lost, perhaps, because Nigerians didn’t vote enough.
Enyeama was shortlisted for the award along with eventual winner Algerian Yacine Brahimi, Gabonese Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ivorian pair Gervinho and Yaya Toure.
After a record number of votes were submitted from fans in 207 FIFA-registered countries, Brahimi came out on top.
The 24-year-old midfielder becomes the first Algerian to win the award, which is decided by football fans.
“I wouldn’t say I felt bad because I deserved to win based on my performance through January till date, but it was down to voting and perhaps Nigerians didn’t vote enough.”
“In any case I want to say a big thank you to all those who did. It means I must put extra effort to my job for the next one,” said Enyeama, who is among the shortlisted for the annual Glo-CAF African Footballer of the Year Award which will hold in Lagos next month.
Meanwhile, After missing out on this year’s 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil due to injury and also sure to miss out on next year’s AFCON tournament in Equatorial Guinea, one capped Eagles’ defender and Darmstadt star, Leon Balogun says he does not regret opting to play for Nigeria.
The German-based defender picked up a long-term foot injury during playing for Nigeria in a friendly against Mexico in the World Cup year.
Leon in an interview with www.footballlive.ng expressed his disappointment with the Eagles’ failure to book a ticket for the continental showpiece, but was confident the team will surely recover from the setback.
“I’m not that kind of person who’s only there in times of success. Nobody said it was going to be easy because every team during the qualifiers played to be at the tournament and we missed out on it, but we can always bounce back,” the defender said.