I regret not winning CAF Player of the Year Award – Okocha

One of Nigeria’s football legends, Austin Jay Jay Okocha, has admitted that one of his big regrets was a failure to win the coveted CAF Player of the Year prize.
The former Super Eagles midfielder, finished as runner-up to Mustapha Hadji and Samuel Eto’o in 1998 and 2004 respectively, despite being the favourite to take home the award on those occasions.

Speaking at a fans interaction forum hosted by Western Union as part of their activities as Global Partners of the Europa League, Okocha said: “I definitely regret not winning the CAF Player of the Year award. I hoped to win while I was a professional but thing don’t always go your way. My source of pride, regardless of what happened with CAF, is that I got awards and recognition from others asides CAF.”

However, Okocha conceded that he might have not won it, because of the abundance of playing talent in his time.
“My generation had a lot of great footballers and the competition was very high. I feel privileged to have played in the same period as some of these greats and if I did not win the award, it is because someone else did,” Okocha said.
“Saying I don’t regret not winning the CAF Player of the Year award will be a lie but a bigger regret is that I cannot come out of retirement to try again!”