* Williams is nominated in all 3 categories: Player of the Year, CAF Goalkeeper of the Year and CAF Interclub Player of the Year
* Made history last month 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
Maravi Express
South African club, Mamelodi Sundowns’ goalkeeper, Ronwen Williams is the only one player from the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) who is among top 10 nominees for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) African Player 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.
According to CAFonline, 10 players have been shortlisted for the men’s category just as 10 players feature on the list for the CAF Interclub Player of the Year.
Williams 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.
Tunisia sniper Achraf Hakimi lost out to Osimhen
Another exciting category will be the CAF Coach of the Year that will consider the best performance of the top performing national coach at the CAF Africa Cup of Nation Côte d’Ivoire 2023.
There are 10 nominees each for the Coach of the Year, CAF National Team of the Year, Club of the Year and CAF Young Player of the Year category, which celebrates rising stars under the age of 21.
The winners of each category will be determined through votes from a diverse panel, including the CAF technical committee, media professionals, and head coaches & captains of CAF member associations, as well as clubs participating in the group stages of Interclub competitions.
CAFonline indicates that the list of nominees for the Women’s categories will be announced shortly.
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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.
South Africa’s number one goalkeeper, Williams made history last month 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.
Ronwen Williams
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.
George Weah
Williams (32) has been on a meteoric rise since joining former African champions Mamelodi Sundowns from cross-town rivals and boyhood club, SuperSport United in July 2022.
The Bafana Bafana skipper was a pivotal cog in Mamelodi Sundowns’ back-to-back titles since joining the club. A feat that elevated his place in the national team to being the number one goalkeeper.
The Gqeberha-born goalkeeper literally grabbed the challenge of being Hugo Broos’ trusted keeper with both hands, putting up undoubtedly one of the standout performances at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) Côte d’Ivoire 2023, where he denied Cape Verde four times in a quarter-final penalty shootout.
Williams’ acrobatic and penalty saves also came to the fore in the third-place play-off against DR Congo where he saved two penalties to help his nation to a podium finish that was accompanied by him being voted the Goalkeeper of the Tournament at the continental showpiece.
The Ballon d’Or awards ceremony will take place on Monday, October 28, 2024 and the nominees list has Williams, Diogo Costa (Portugal), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy), Gregor Kobel (Switzerland), Andriy Lunin (Ukraine), Mike Maignan (France), Giorgi Mamarsdashvili (Georgia), Emiliano Martinez (Argentina), Unai Simon (Spain) and Yann Sommer (Switzerland).—Content by CAFonline; edited by Maravi Express
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