Alongside Zambia’s Barbara Banda, Sanna Mssoudy from Morroco and Chiamaka Nnadozie from Nigeria
* Tabitha and Zambia’s Barbara Banda have also been nominated for the Best FIFA Women’s Player 2024 award
* Whose voting platform was opened by the world football governing body last week to run till Tuesday, December 10
* On which fans can vote through the link: https://www.fifa.com/the-best-fifa-football-awards-2024/en/best-fifa-womens-player
By Duncan Mlanjira
Sensational Malawian women’s football stars, sister Tabitha and Temwa Chawinga, have made it into the final five of nominees for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Player of the Year 2024 awards.
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They are alongside Zambia’s Barbara Banda, Sanna Mssoudy from Morroco and Chiamaka Nnadozie from Nigeria, whose winner will be on December 16 in Marrakech, Morroco.
This is the 6th time for Tabitha to be nominated for the African player of the year award but it has eluded her despite some phenomenon attributes of the player in which she etched a niche in women’s football to win the Golden Boot in three of her host countries — Sweden, China and Italy.
She has been beaten to it by Nigerian Asisat Oshoala, who is the current holder of the award.
Current holder Asisat Oshoala
Tabitha alongside Zambia’s Barbara Banda have also been nominated for the Best FIFA Women’s Player 2024 award whose voting platform was opened by the world football governing body last week to run till Tuesday, December 10 on which fans can vote through the link: https://www.fifa.com/the-best-fifa-football-awards-2024/en/best-fifa-womens-player.
Chawinga and Barbara Banda are the only Africans among the 16 nominees for the award and are up against fierce contenders, whose resumes are equally impressive as those for both Tabitha and Barbra.
Tabitha is lauded for finishing as the top scorer in the 2023-24 French Division 1 Féminine and also that she was named by the French Professional Footballers’ Association as the best player in the 2023-24 Division 1 Féminine.
Temwa and Barbra in action in the US
Temwa and Barbra Banda are fierce competitors in the US 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, which Temwa won.
The CAF Awards cover period from January to October that reflect the excellence in women’s football across the continent after their impressive performances at club and national team level.
The winners of the award will be determined through votes from the CAF technical committee, media professionals, head coaches and captains of Member Associations.
Meanwhile, nominees the CAF Interclub Player of the Year are Merveille Nanguji (DR Congo/TP Mazembe); Lacho Flora Marta (DR Congo/TP Mazembe); Doha El Madani (Morocco/AS FAR); Sanaâ Mssoudy (Morocco/AS FAR) and Khadija Er-Rmichi (Morocco/AS FAR).
Er-Rmichi has also been nominated for Goalkeeper of the Year alongside Fideline Ngoy (DR Congo/TP Mazembe); Habiba Sabry (Egypt/FC Masar); Chiamaka Nnadozie (Nigeria/Paris FC) and Andile Dlamini (South Africa/Mamelodi Sundowns) category
Egypt’s Habiba Sabry is also under the Young Player of the Year nominees alongside Doha El Madani (Morocco/AS FAR); Lina Mokhtar Jamai (Morocco/Paris Saint-Germain); Chiamaka Okwuchukwu (Nigeria/Rivers Angels) and Nthabiseng Majiya(South Africa/Mamelodi Sundowns).
Women’s National Team of the Year are Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and the Cameroon Under-20 side, while Club of the Year contenders include TP Mazembe (DR Congo), AS FAR (Morocco), and Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa).
Three men have been nominated as women Coach of the Year, Ahmed Ramadan (FC Masar), Mohamed Amine Alioua (AS FAR) and Chris Danjuma (Nigeria U-20) alongside women Thinasonke Mbuli (University of the Western Cape) and Lamia Boumehdi (TP Mazembe).
Lamia Boumehdi’s TP Mazembe is nominated for Club of the Year along with FC Masar (Egypt); AS FAR (Morocco); Edo Queens (Nigeria) and Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa).—Content by CAFonline
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