World Cup bronze medalists, the Flamingos have been named Sportsman of the Year 2022 by Leadership Newspapers Group Limited, one of Nigeria’s leading media companies.
The honor will be awarded to Nigerian under-17 girls at the 2022 Annual Leadership Conference and Awards scheduled for the Abuja International Conference Center on Tuesday the 31st.st January 2023.
In its announcement of the selection of the Flamingos after a diligent process by the Awards Nomination and Selection Committee, the news company wrote: “Among several nominees with excellent credentials, you have been selected for this prestigious award for winning the Nigeria’s first medal at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, the second African team to achieve the feat after Ghana in 2012…the selection panel found the highest qualified team as the 2022 LEADERSHIP Sportsperson of the Year.”
It should be recalled that the Flamingos arrived in India for last year’s FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup having scored 15 goals in six African qualifiers and having played in all previous editions of the tournament except the 2018 final. In uruguay.
In India, the Flamingos narrowly lost 1-2 to Germany in their opener, before crushing New Zealand 4-0 and beating Chile 2-1 to reach the quarter-finals. In the quarterfinals, they defeated the USA 4-3 on penalties after both teams ended regulation and overtime 1-1.
In the semi-finals, Colombia proved too tough on penalties after a 0-0 draw after regulation time and extra time, and in the match for third place, the Nigerians beat Germany 3-2 on penalties after a 3-3 draw. -3. By the way, Germany fell victim to Ghana when Nigeria’s fierce West African rivals won Africa’s first medal (bronze) at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Azerbaijan in 2012.
