Former Flames’ Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet nominated for 2023 CAF Coach of the Year award

Tom Saintfiet when he coached the Flames

* No Malawian player earns nomination in any of the men’s CAF Awards

* The women’s category is yet to be announced and gunning for it is Malawi’s celebrated international women football star, Tabitha Chawinga

* Who has been nominated on four previous occasions but always missed out despite her incredible successes

By Duncan Mlanjira

Former mentor for Flames, Tom Saintfiet, who is coaching The Gambia national football team, is on the list of the 2023 CAF Coach of the Year as preparations for the Awards Gala scheduled for December 11 in Marrakech, Morocco, gather momentum.

He is alongside nine others, that include hot contender, Aliou Cisse, who guided Senegal to their first-ever Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) triumph during the 2022 edition in Cameroun.

Others are Abdelhak Benchikha (club USM Alger), Marcel Koller (club Al Ahly), Juan Micha Obiang (Equatorial Guinea), Baciro Cande (Guinea Bissau), Amir Abdou (Mauritania), Walid Regragui (Morocco), Chiquinho Conde (Mozambique) and Pape Thiaw (Senegal-CHAN).

Saintfiet, who is coaching The Gambia since July 2018, was appointed Flames mentor in July 2013, on a three-month deal with the goal to qualify Malawi for the first time in history for the FIFA World Cup but did not succeed.

Saintfiet has coached in several countries, including Belgium, Qatar, Germany, Faroe Islands, Finland, Jordan, the Netherlands and in Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Malawi and Togo.

He guided The Gambia to qualify for the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2021 for the first time in history and also made history on November 13 in their first Group D qualifying match of the 2022 edition when they defeated Gambia 3-1 in Luanda — the Scorpions’ first away win in an AFCON or FIFA World Cup qualifier ever, at their 40th attempt.

At the AFCON, the Gambia defied the odds by defeating favourites Tunisia in the group stage, finishing unbeaten in 2nd place in the group and a further win against Guinea in the Round of 16 saw them reach the quarter-finals at their first attempt — eventually going out to tournament hosts Cameroun.

The Gambia have been nominated for National Team of the Year award alongside Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal, Tanzania and COSAFA’s Mozambique and Namibia.

Meanwhile, not a single Malawian player has made it on the list nominees for the men’s categories of the prestigious CAF Awards 2023.

CAF revealed the list on November 1 following recommendation of panel of CAF technical experts, African football legends and selected media representatives from a number of countries — that put together the preliminary list for the various categories with the performance of the nominees between November 2022 and September 2023 serving as the period under consideration.

Thirty players made the cut for the top prize, the CAF African Player of the Year, whilst 20 players have been nominated for the CAF Interclub Player of the Year.

Coach of the Year, CAF National Team of the Year and Club of the Year have 10 nominees each just as CAF Young Player of the Year — for players under the age of 21.

For the first time, CAF has introduced the CAF African Goalkeeper of the Year Category (men and women) in the prestigious event that seeks to reward and celebrate exceptional players, officials and administrators during the period under review.

It will be the first time that shot stoppers will be acknowledged for their performances, further expanding the network of winners for the annual event in which 10 players have been nominated.

Senegal forward Sadio Mane was crowned CAF African Player of the Year whilst Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala was coronated CAF African Women’s Player of the Year for a record fifth time during the last Awards Gala in July 2022 in Rabat, Morocco.

The list of nominees for the women’s category is yet to be announced and gunning for it is Malawi’s celebrated international women football star, Tabitha Chawinga, who has been nominated on four previous occasions for the Africa Women’s Player of the Year award but always missed out despite her incredible successes.

But despite the setback in the African prize race, the Malawi captain refused to lose sweat as she remains hopeful her time will come, as she told CAFonline mid this year following her great performance when she won the Golden Boot award after scoring 23 goals in 21 games for Inter Milan — becoming the first African woman to win the prestigious title in Italy.

She told CAFonline ahead of the prestigious CAF Awards that: “Every player should desire to get that award. My eyes remain fixed on the prize.

“All in good time, my hands remain expectant whilst I continue to play good football. I was born with a gift. My duty has been to nurture the gift and nurturing a gift requires a willingness to continue learning and improving.

“So I am focused, I work hard, I am a team player, and always willing to learn and be exposed to new developments and skills in football.”

On the four occasions she was nominated for the CAF Women African Player of the Year, she was beaten to it by Nigerian star Asisat Oshoala in 2022, 2019 and 2017 and by Thembi Kgatlana in 2018.

Tabitha, who is on loan to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) from her Chinese club, Wuhan Jianghan was in the news last month when she inspired PSG to beat Manchester United and proceed to group stage of the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

She first scored in their 1-1 draw in the first leg in England and once more stole the show in the return match with fabulous assists in their 3-1 win.

After her performance in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, UK’s The Guardian took cognizance that “despite being arguably the most consistent striker from Africa over the past eight years, winning the top scorer award in every country she has played her club football, the continent’s top individual award – the CAF Women’s Player of the Year – has so far eluded her”.

“Chawinga hopes the drought will end this year, saying: ‘I don’t know why I haven’t won. Maybe it is because I am from Malawi and the fact that our national team has not played in major competitions but I think I deserve it’.”

The Guardian’s sports reporter Osasu Obayiuwana added a disclosure, saying: “This writer, a selector for the 2019 CAF awards, voted for Chawinga. With her phenomenal track record, even the most critical purist would struggle to disagree with that.”

Meanwhile, two from Confederation of Southern Football Associations (COSAFA) has made it for the men’s CAF Player of the year — Peter Shalulile (Namibia and Mamelodi Sundowns) and Percy Tau (South Africa and Al Ahly).

It has been dominated by nominees from Morocco (7) — Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain), Azzedine Ounahi (Olympique Marseille), Hakim Ziyech (Galatasaray), Sofyan Amrabat (Manchester United), Yahya Jabrane (Wydad Athletic Club), Yassine Bounou (Al Hilal) and Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla).

Egypt has four; Mahmoud Abdel Moneim ‘Kahraba’, Mohamed Abdelmonem, Mohamed ElShenawy (all Al Ahly) and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.

Others are Algerians, Ramy Bensebaini (Borussia Dortmund) & Riyad Mahrez (Al Ahli), Burkina Faso’s Edmond Tapsoba (Bayer Leverkusen), Cameroun’s Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (SSC Napoli), Vincent Aboubacar (Besiktas), Côte d’Ivoire’s Ibrahima Sangare (Nottingham Forest) & Seko Fofana (Al Nassr), DR Congo’s Chancel Mbemba (Olympique Marseille) & Fiston Mayele (Pyramids).

Ghana has contributed Mohammed Kudus (West Ham United) & Thomas Partey (Arsenal), Guinea Serhou Guirassy (VfB Stuttgart), Mali Yves Bissouma (Tottenham Hotspur), Nigeria Victor Osimhen (SSC Napoli), Senegal Sadio Mane (Al Nassr) & Pape Matar Sarr (Tottenham Hotspur) while Tunisia has Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane (Ferencvaros).

Goalkeeper of the Year are Mohamed ElShenawy (Egypt & Al Ahly), Yassine Bounou (Morocco & Al Hilal), Andre Onana (Cameroon & Manchester United), Ronwen Williams (South Africa & Mamelodi Sundowns), Edouard Mendy (Senegal & Al Ahli), Oussama Benbot (Algeria and USM Alger), Youssef El Motie (Morocco & Wydad Athletic Club), Djigui Diarra (Mali & Young Africans), Pape Mamadou Sy (Senegal & Generation Foot) and Landing Badji (Senegal & AS Pikine).

Club of the Year has CR Belouizdad & USM Alger (Algeria), ASEC Mimosas (Cote d’Ivoire), Al Ahly (Egypt), Raja Club Athletic & Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco), Esperance de Tunis (Tunisia), Young Africans (Tanzania) and from COSAFA Mamelodi Sundowns and Marumo Gallants (both from South Africa).