Gift Orban Nominated for Europa Conference League Player and Goal of the Week Awards

• Gift Orban scored three goals for Gent in the Europa Conference League win over Basaksehir
• The 20-year-old has now been nominated for both the best player and goal of the week awards
• Fans are also urging the Nigerian to work hard so as to earn an invitation to the Super Eagles

Nigerian striker, Gift Orban has been nominated for the UEFA Europa Conference League Player and Goal of the Week awards following his recent performance for KAA Gent.

On March 15, Orban made the headlines after netting three goals for the Belgians in their Europa Conference League win over Istanbul Basaksehir, which they won 4-1.

That was the fastest hat-trick ever in the competition with Orban scoring in the 31st, 32nd, and 34th minute.

The victory helped Gent progress to the quarter-final 5-2 on aggregate.

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According to the report by Complete Sports, the brilliant performance of Orban was noted and therefore nominated for both of the awards.

Orban among the nominees

West Ham United's Jarrod Bowen, AZ Alkmaar's Jesper Karlssson, and Anderlecht's Bert Verbruggen are the other players nominated for the Player of the Week award.

Among the nominees for the Goal of the Week prize are Bowen again, Sivasspor’s Erdogan Yesilyurt, and Gaetan Laborde of OGC Nice.

Has Orban earned Nigeria call-up?

Previously, tere were calls by fans for Nigeria head coach, Jose Peseiro to invite Orban into the Super Eagles squad for the coming AFCON qualifiers, but this did not happen.

He will have to continue working hard at his club for a possible future call-up and fans believe it is only a matter of time.

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Sports Brief previously reported on coach Peseiro releasing the Super Eagles squad list of 23 players to face Guinea Bissau in the AFCON qualifiers.

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As expected, Napoli forward Victor Osimhen, Nigeria's captain Ahmed Musa, Ademola Lookman and Alex Iwobi all made it into the country's squad.

Osimhen is the man of the moment in the Italian Serie A and fans back home are expecting him to excel on the pitch for the Super Eagles too.