Oliseh, NPFL in top 10 most ‘googled’ items of 2015

Nigeria coach Sunday Oliseh was the 10th most searched sports personality by Nigerians on Google in 2015, according to a list of trends released by the website on Monday.

The search engine giant releases an annual list of top 10 search items to show what people were interested in knowing, or what trended online, in the course of the year.

Oliseh was the only Nigerian sports person on the list, which was topped by Chelsea midfielder Pedro, Barcelona acquisition Arda Turan and Manchester United wonderkid Anthony Martial.

The other sports people on the list are Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema, Arsenal goalkeeper Peter (sic) Cech, Manchester United’s Memphis Depay, Arsenal defender Gabriel Paulista. Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos, United defender Matteo Darmian and Super Eagles coach Oliseh in 10th place.

The former Super Eagles captain, who took over the reins of the Nigeria senior national team in July following the sack of Stephen Keshi, is the only non-active sports person in the top 10.

Noteworthy, all nine active sports men in the list were either involved in big money transfers or transfer speculations during the summer transfer market.

Google Trends - Trending Athlete / Sport Personalities, 2015, Nigeria

1 Pedro

2 Arda Turan

3 Anthony Martial

4 Karim Benzema

5 Peter Cech

6 Memphis Depay

7 Gabriel Paulista

8 Sergio Ramos

9 Matteo Darmian


10 Sunday Oliseh

On the other hand, the domestic Nigeria Premier League (rightly titled Nigeria Professional Football League) also featured in the top 10 sports events of 2015, as searched for by Nigerians.

The NPL (NPFL) was listed in 10th place behind the Copa America, Chile U-17 World Cup, New Zealand U-20 World Cup, Fifa Women's World Cup, English Premier League, AFCON 2015, Wimbledon 2015, UEFA Champions League and Spanish La Liga.

It is testament to the increasing awareness and interest in the domestic football scene by many Nigerians.

Google Trends - Trending Sport Competitions, 2015, Nigeria

1 Copa America

2 Chile U-17 World Cup

3 New Zealand U-20 World Cup

4 Fifa Women's World Cup

5 English Premier League

6 AFCON 2015

7 Wimbledon 2015

8 UEFA Champions League

9 Spanish La Liga

10 Nigerian Premier League

By Goal.com