Nigeria legend Austin Jay-Jay Okocha has expressed regret over not winning the CAF Footballer of the Year award during his prime.

Despite being touted as one of the greatest football talents to have emerged from the African continent, Okocha was never crowned African Footballer of the Year in his career.

The former Bolton Wanderers midfielder believes he did enough to clinch the prestigious CAF award.

Okocha believes winning the BBC African Player of the Year award on three consecutive occasions was not a flash in the pan.

“Honestly, I do not want to sound greedy and ungrateful, but I’ve had an amazing career. I never thought I would make it that big in my life.

“But of course, if you look back, there’s always a time when you say, ‘Oh, maybe you could’ve done a bit better than you did.’ And if I’m to say, I’ll say, I regret not winning the African Footballer of the Year.

“I thought I did enough to have won it because it wasn’t a fluke that I won BBC Player of the Year three years in a row and still didn’t manage to win that CAF award. But, I mean, maybe it was not meant to be," he added.

Okocha finished as a runner-up behind Morocco's Mustapha Hadji in 1998 and also behind Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o in 2004.

The former PSG star won the BBC African Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004.

WDN