{"id":5404,"date":"2025-09-23T22:31:40","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T21:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pillartoday.ng\/?p=5404"},"modified":"2025-09-23T22:32:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T21:32:38","slug":"ballon-dor-nff-hails-nnadozie-madugu-over-4th-place-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"pillartoday.com.ng\/?p=5404","title":{"rendered":"Ballon d\u2019Or: NFF Hails Nnadozie, Madugu Over 4th Place Finish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie at the Ballon d\u2019Or in Paris on Monday night<\/em><\/p>\n

By Dianabasi Effiong<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has congratulated Chianaka Nnadozie, the Super Falcons, and Brighton & Hove Albion of England\u2019s goalkeeper on her fourth-place finish at this year\u2019s Ballon d\u2019Or ceremony, in Paris on Monday night.<\/p>\n

Nnadozie, Africa\u2019s Best Goalkeeper for the past two years, was also named Goalkeeper of the Tournament for this summer\u2019s Women Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco, where she played a key role in Nigeria\u2019s 10th triumph.<\/p>\n

“We heartily congratulate Chiamaka Nnadozie on her fourth-place finish in the race. It is a commendable feat given the calibre of goalkeepers she was up against. Finishing fourth is a big achievement and we believe in her capacity to win this trophy very soon,” the NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said.<\/p>\n

Sanusi also hailed the Super Falcons\u2019 Head Coach, Justine Madugu, who also finished fourth in the Women\u2019s Coach of the Year category.<\/p>\n

“Coach Madugu\u2019s feat further underscores the fact that the NFF was right to have given him the Super Falcons\u2019 head coach role, which had earlier been validated with him leading the team to victory at the WAFCON in Morocco. We congratulate him on this feat and wish him victory in the awards in the coming years,” he said<\/p>\n

Nnadozie finished fourth behind England and Chelsea FC\u2019s Hannah Hampton, who took home the Troph\u00e9e Yachine (named after former Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin), Gotham FC\u2019s Ann-Katrin Berger, and Barcelona FC\u2019s Cata Coll.<\/p>\n

She, however, finished above Arsenal FC\u2019s Daphne van Domselaar in the Top Five.<\/p>\n

Madugu was fourth in a race won by Sarina Wiegman, who led England to the UEFA Women\u2019s Championship title.<\/p>\n

Chelsea\u2019s Sonia Bompastor, Brazil\u2019s Arthur Elias, and Arsenal FC\u2019s Ren\u00e9e Slegers were also in the race.<\/p>\n

Paris Saint-Germain\u2019s Ousmane Dembele and Barcelona\u2019s Aitana Bonmati won the top prizes at the 2025 Ballon d\u2019Or awards ceremony.<\/p>\n

Dembele helped PSG to become the first French side to win a continental treble last season.<\/p>\n

He defeated Barcelona\u2019s Lamine Yamal for the men\u2019s award on Monday night in Paris.<\/p>\n

Spanish international, Bonmati, won the Ballon d\u2019Or F\u00e9minin for the third year in a row, edging Mariona Caldentey.<\/p>\n

Ousmane Dembele becomes the first player to win the Ballon d\u2019Or while representing a club from his country at the time of the ceremony since Englishman Michael Owen (Liverpool) in 2001.<\/p>\n

Barcelona Femen\u00ed superstar Aitana Bonmat\u00ed, in her latest feat, became the first player to ever win the Ballon d\u2019Or F\u00e9minin three times<\/p>\n

The midfielder had lifted the previous two individual titles following collective dominance with Barcelona and Spain.<\/p>\n

She completed her hat-trick at Monday\u2019s ceremony.<\/p>\n

Mercurial Lionel Messi was the last player to ever win three Ballon d\u2019Or crowns on the spin, picking up four from 2009 to 2012.<\/p>\n

Former French midfielder, Michel Platini is the only other individual to win the prestigious honour in three successive seasons (1983\u20131985).<\/p>\n

As the defending champion, Bonmat\u00ed\u2019s triumph is hardly a shock, but the fleet-footed schemer did not enjoy quite the same universal acclaim as in years gone by.<\/p>\n

Barcelona\u2019s domestic dominance was underscored by a trio of trophies on home soil.<\/p>\n

However, the Catalans did lose two league games\u2014as many as they recorded across the previous five seasons combined.<\/p>\n

After two years as the undisputed centrepiece of Barcelona and the Spain national team, while Alexia Putellas\u2014 a two-time Ballon d\u2019Or winner herself \u2014recovered from an ACL tear, Bonmat\u00ed had to readjust to a new role back in tandem with her compatriot.<\/p>\n

This champagne problem still saw both players hit double digits for goals and assists as Barcelona returned to the Champions League final for the fifth season running.<\/p>\n

However, after two successive titles, Bonmat\u00ed and her teammates were stunned by a disciplined Arsenal side, which battled out a 1\u20130 win in Lisbon.<\/p>\n

Bonmat\u00ed would suffer heartbreak at the hands of English opposition two months later, watching on in disbelief as her spot kick was saved in Spain\u2019s penalty shootout defeat to England in the Euro 2025 final.<\/p>\n

Yet, the fact that Bonmat\u00ed was on the pitch at all is a testament to her tenacious character.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old prepared for the tournament in the hospital while being treated for viral meningitis.<\/p>\n

In typically defiant fashion, Bonmat\u00ed was fit enough to come off the bench in the first match of the group stage and had already won her place back by the knockouts.<\/p>\n

It was Bonmat\u00ed\u2019s thumping finish from an impossible angle that skipped past Germany\u2019s Ann-Katrin Berger for the only goal of the semifinal.<\/p>\n

The UEFA technical committee was not alone in hailing her as the Player of the Tournament.<\/p>\n

In the immediate aftermath of the Euro 2025 final, Bonmat\u00ed fronted up to the media, saying: “I\u2019m in shock. We gave everything. I must apologize for missing my penalty and congratulate England.”<\/p>\n

Yet, as everyone in Spain was all too quick to point out, Bonmat\u00ed need not apologise for anything.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie at the Ballon d\u2019Or in Paris on Monday night By Dianabasi Effiong The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has congratulated Chianaka Nnadozie, the Super Falcons, and Brighton & Hove Albion of England\u2019s goalkeeper on her fourth-place finish at this year\u2019s Ballon d\u2019Or ceremony, in Paris on Monday night. Nnadozie, Africa\u2019s Best Goalkeeper for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"pillartoday.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"pillartoday.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"pillartoday.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"pillartoday.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"pillartoday.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"pillartoday.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"pillartoday.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"pillartoday.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"pillartoday.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"pillartoday.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}