Both Chawinga sisters nominated for CAF Women’s Player of the Year alongside Scorchers as Team of the Year 

* They are together with Zambians Barbara Banda and Racheal Kundananji; South Africans Jermaine Seoposenwe and Thembi Kgatlana from the COSAFA

* The Scorchers nominated alongside COSAFA Women’s Championship 2024 champions Zambia, who beat Malawi in the final to claim the title

By Duncan Mlanjira

Sensational Chawinga sisters, Tabitha and Temwa have both made it in on the nominees list of the Confédération of African Football (CAF) Women’s Player of the Year while Malawi Scorchers have been nominated for the National Team of the Year award.

The coveted CAF awards gala is scheduled on December 16 in Marrakech, Morocco and the CAF Awards 2024 cover the period between January 2024 and October 2024.

Out of the 10 nominees, six are from the Council for the Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) nations, Tabitha (Olympique Lyonnais, France) & Temwa (Kansas City, US); Barbara Banda (Zambia/Orlando Pride, US) & Racheal Kundananji (Zambia/Bay FC, US); Jermaine Seoposenwe (South Africa/Monterrey, Mexico) and Thembi Kgatlana (South Africa/Tigres UANL, Mexico).

The others are Chiamaka Nnadozie (Nigeria/Paris FC, France);  Rasheedat Ajibade(Nigeria/Atletico Madrid, Spain); Sanaa Mssoudy (Morocco/AS FAR, Morocco) and Sandrine Niyonkuru (Burundi/FC Masar, Egypt).

Temwa TC6 Chawinga and Zambian Barbra Banda are fierce competitors in the USA’s National Women Soccer League (NWSL) as leading goal scorers and both were nominated in the final 5 of the NWSL Most Valuable Player (MVP) 2024 award.

For the National Team of the Year award, three are from the COSAFA — Malawi, Zambia and South Africa; with Nigeria contributing three in the senior women’s, U-17 & U-20; Morocco two (senior women’s & U-20 while Cameroon’s U-20 and Kenya’s U-17 complete the list.

Zambia beat defending champions Malawi 2-0 in the final to clinch the COSAFA Women’s Championship 2024 held last month. The two sides also met in the final in the 2023 edition in which the Scorchers won 2-1 to clinch their first ever international gold medal.

The CAF Interclub Women’s Player of the Year is also an exciting category to look out for, with six of the 10 nominees currently vying for the ongoing CAF Women’s Champions League title in Morocco.

Among the 10 nominees is Burundi’s and Egyptian side, FC Masar’s Sandrine Niyonkuru, who has also made it for the overall CAF Women’s Player of the Year.

She is joined by her teammate at FC Masar, Ugandan Shadia Nankya; Moroccan side AS FAR favourites, Doha El Madani, Khadija Er-Rmichi Morocco and Sanaa Mssoudy; DR Congo’s TP Mazembe’s Burundi Merveille Nanguji & Lacho Flora Marta; Nigeria’s and Edo Queens’ Emem Essien & Monle Oyono; and from the COSAFA, Amogelang Motau (South Africa/University of the Western Cape).

Africa Club of the Year nominees include two COSAFA sides, South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns and University of the Western Cape, who won the CAF Africa Cup of Nations-COSAFA qualifiers, which MAlawi hosted in July — and they are alongside TP Mazembe (DR Congo), FC Masar (Egypt), CBE (Ethiopia), AS FAR (Morocco), Edo Queens (Nigeria), Aigles de la Medina (Senegal).

Just as in the men’s category, whose nominees were already announced, the winners of each category will be determined through votes from a diverse panel, including the CAF technical committee, media professionals, head coaches & captains of member associations, as well as clubs participating in the group stages of CAF Interclub competitions.

In the men’s category, South African club, Mamelodi Sundowns’ goalkeeper, Ronwen Williams is the only one player from the COSAFA among top 10 nominees.

He is joined by Nigerians, Ademola Lookman (Atalanta) and William Troost-Ekong (Al Kholood); Moroccans Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain) and Soufiane Rahimi (Al Ain); Amine Gouiri (Algeria/Rennes), Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso/Bayer Leverkusen), Simon Adingra (Côte d’Ivoire/Brighton & Hove Albion), Chancel Mbemba (DR Congo/Olympique de Marseille) and Serhou Guirassy (Guinea/Borussia Dortmund).

Williams is nominated in all 3 categories: Player of the Year, CAF Goalkeeper of the Year and CAF Interclub Player of the Year. The CAF African Goalkeeper of the Year category continues to spotlight the brilliance of goalkeepers, further enriching the awards ceremony’s scope.

Moroccan Hakimi was a finalist last year and lost out to Nigerian Victor Osimhen, who is not on the 2024 list.

Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen was named the CAF African Player of the Year 2023 while his compatriot Asisat Oshoala earned the title of CAF African Women’s Player of the Year.

The South Africa’s number one goalkeeper, Williams made history in September when he was nominated on the list of Goalkeeper of the Year nominees for world football’s most prestigious individual trophy, the Ballon d’Or Yashin Trophy.

Not only was this a first for Africa, but the Bafana Bafana skipper makes continental history as the first ever footballer playing in Africa to be nominated for the award.

As the only African-based keeper, Williams made the list of 10 best shot-stoppers in the world which include current holder, Emiliano Martez (Argentina), Unai Simon (Spain) as well as Diogo Costa (Portugal) amongst others.

To date, African football icon George Weah remains the only African to be voted the best player in the world after winning the Ballon d’Or in 1995 ahead of Germany’s Jurgen Klinsmann and Finland’s Jari Litman — also as the first non-European to win the award.