Burna Boy Presents a Ballon d’Or Award, and Nigeria Says “We Are in the Building”

Sit down and stay calm. On Monday night at the London Palladium, at the 70th Ballon d’Or ceremony, a Nigerian walked on stage, held an award, and handed it to someone. That Nigerian was Burna Boy, and he is now the first Nigerian artiste to present an award at the Ballon d’Or. We have not won the thing yet. But hand it out? Done. Put it on the CV.

It was the Sócrates Award, which honours footballers for humanitarian work, and the winner was Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, recognised for his BigShoe charity work, including surgeries for about 120 children in Kano State in 2022. The main prizes went to Harry Kane and Alexia Putellas. But nobody in the family WhatsApp group has read that part. As far as Uncle Tunde is concerned, Burna Boy gave the Ballon d’Or to a Nigerian, and that is the headline. Please do not correct him.

Saka plays for England. But Nigerians have already confirmed that he is ours, a legal process that takes about four seconds on Twitter.

Burna spoke about the football academy he started in Nigeria “just to support the football culture back home,” which is, as far as we know, the first Nigerian football project to start on time. Then he said the line that made every Nigerian sit up: “Hopefully, inshallah, one day I’ll come back here to see one of my people getting an award in the Ballon d’Or.” That is a man who has done the maths. “Hopefully” and “inshallah” in one sentence are two layers of insurance, one for football and one for the people running it.

No Nigerian has won the Ballon d’Or. Our best finish is Victor Osimhen in eighth place in 2023, and Ademola Lookman was 14th in 2024. George Weah of Liberia remains the only African man to win it, back in 1995, and we have been congratulating him politely ever since.

To be fair, the Palladium moment is nothing. Rema performed at the ceremony in 2023, Burna at the 2023 Champions League final, and now Afrobeats has a seat at football’s biggest table. The next time someone asks what Nigeria has contributed to world football, we have answers: goals, music and a walk down the red carpet.

The only problem is that Nigerian expectations inflate faster than the naira. Last year, we wanted a nominee. This year, we have a presenter. Next year, someone will ask for the host job. By 2030, there will be a petition to move the Ballon d’Or to Lagos, so Thierry Henry can experience traffic.

For now, we will take it. A Nigerian was presented, a Nigerian-heritage player was honoured, and a Nigerian dream was said out loud, with insurance. Hopefully, inshallah.