Samuel Chukwueze Finishes Ninth In KOPA Trophy Race

Samuel Chukwueze Finishes Ninth In KOPA Trophy Race

By Admin

Super Eagles winger Samuel Chukwueze finished ninth in the race for the Kopa Trophy at the ceremony of the Ballon d’Or at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on Monday night.

Juventus centre back Matthijs de Ligt won the award for the best young player (U-21) of the year.

Villarreal starlet Chukwueze tied for ninth place with Valencia’s South Korea international Lee Kang-in, who won the Golden Ball award at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

The right winger was in line to play for the Flying Eagles in the tournament in Poland but opted to represent the Super Eagles at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

Completing the top five are Jadon Sancho, Joao Felix, Vinicius Junior and Andriy Lunin.

Arsenal midfielder Mattéo Guendouzi was the best ranked player representing a Premier League club, finishing joint sixth with Kai Havertz, while Everton’s Kean was eight in the classification.

The Kopa Trophy winner is selected by a jury made up of former winners of the Ballon d’Or, each nominating three players in order of merit from a list of ten young players shortlisted by France Football.