Past winners Sadio Mane (top) and Mo Sallah
* Former Flames mentor, Tom Saintfiet is in the top 5 as Coach of the Year nominee along with 2021 AFCON winning coach Aliou Cisse of Senegal
* Saintfiet’s The Gambia were also nominated as National Team of the Year alongside Senegal Mauritania, Morocco
* As well as Malawi’s 2016 FIFA World Cup Group H qualifying opponents, Equatorial Guinea
By Duncan Mlanjira
The list of nominees for all categories of the CAF Awards 2023 have now been trimmed which now has 10 nominees for Player of the Year with Senegal’s and last year’s winner, Sadio Mane (Al Nassr) headlining the list alongside Egypt’s Mohammed Sallah (Liverpool) and Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain).
Advertisement
The Interclub Player of the Year has 10 contenders whilst Goalkeeper of the Year, Young Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, National Team of the Year and Club of the Year has five each.
A statement from CAF says the ultimate winner of each category will be decided after votes from a voting panel consisting of CAF Technical Committee, media professionals, head coaches & captains of member associations and clubs involved in the group stages of the Interclub competitions.
The Awards Gala will take place on December 11 at the Palais des Congrès, Marrakech in Morocco.
The other nominees for Player of the Year are Riyad Mahrez (Algeria, Al Ahli), Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa (Cameroon, SSC Napoli), Vincent Aboubacar (Cameroon, Besiktas), Sofyan Amrabat (Morocco, Manchester United), Yassine Bounou (Morocco, Al Hilal), Youssef En-Nesyri (Morocco, Sevilla) and Victor Osimhen (Nigeria, SSC Napoli).
Former Flames mentor, Tom Saintfiet is in the top 5 as Coach of the Year nominee along with 2021 AFCON winning coach Aliou Cisse of Senegal, Abdelhak Benchikha of club USM Alger, Marcel Koller (club Al Ahly) and Morocco coach Walid Regragui.
Sainfeit when he coached the Flames
Saintfiet’s The Gambia were also nominated as National Team of the Year alongside Senegal Mauritania, Morocco and Malawi’s 2016 FIFA World Cup Group H qualifying opponents, Equatorial Guinea.
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) and Edouard Mendy (Senegal, Al Ahli).
Interclub Player of the Year: Aymen Mahious (Algeria, USM Alger/Yverdon-Sport), Zineddine Belaid (Algeria, USM Alger), Fiston Mayele (DR Congo, Young Africans/Pyramids), Mahmoud Abdel Moneim (Egypt, Al Ahly), Mohamed ElShenawy (Egypt, Al Ahly), Yahia Attiyat Allah (Morocco, Wydad Club Athletic), Yahya Jabrane (Morocco, Wydad Athletic Club), Peter Shalulile (Namibia, Mamelodi Sundowns), Percy Tau (South Africa, Al Ahly) and Ali Maaloul (Tunisia, Al Ahly).
Mamelodi Sundowns
The inaugural champions of the CAF African Football League, South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns are amongst top 5 nominees for the Club of the Year alongside USM Alger (Algeria), Al Ahly (Egypt), Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco) and Tanzania side, Young Africans.
Sundowns have three spots in the awards that include Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Ronwen Williams for the accolade of Goalkeeper of the Year and Namibian Peter Shalulile for Interclub Player of the Year.
The women’s nominees are yet to trimmed in which Malawi Scorchers earned four nominations with sensational international, Tabitha Chawinga been nominated for the 5th time as CAF Women Player of the Year.
She is alongside her 2023 COSAFA Championship gold medalists sister, Temwa and record winner of the prestigious award, Nigerian Asisat Oshoala.
Tabitha (top) and her sister Temwa
The Malawi Scorchers were nominated longside nine other countries for the National Team of the Year after winning the 2023 COSAFA Championship by beating Zambia 2-1 — Zambia also been considered alongside South Africa; Tanzania; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Ghana; Morocco; Nigeria and Senegal.
Temwa Chawinga, who plays for Wuhan Jiangda in China alongside her sister Tabitha, was a revelation as stand-in captain at the 2023 COSAFA Championship where she was voted Player of the Tournament and Golden Boot awards as well as two Player of the Match accolades.
The two sisters and Nigerian Oshoala are up against 27 others — from Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco (5), Namibia, Nigeria (6), Senegal, (6), Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia (3).
Always beaten to it by Nigerian star Asisat Oshoala
The Scorchers COSAFA mentor, Lovemore Fazili has been nominated for the Coach of the Year, alongside Nana Joe Adarkwa (Ampem Darkoa), Mehdi El Qaichouri (SC Casablanca), Mohamed Amine Alioua (AS FAR), Reynald Pedros (Morocco), Randy Waldrum (Nigeria), Mame Moussa Cisse (Senegal), Desiree Ellis (South Africa), Jerry Tshabalala (Mamelodi Sundowns) and Esther Chabruma (JKT Queens).
Club of the Year include Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa alongside Athletico d’Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire), Huracanes (Equatorial Guinea), Ampem Darkoa (Ghana), AS Mande (Mali), AS FAR (Morocco), SC Casablanca (Morocco) and JKT Queens (Tanzania).
Advertisement
In all the matches played at the COSAFA, the Scorchers earned Player of the Match titles with the other from Asimenye Simwaka, Madyina Ngulube and Sabina Thom — who scored the grand final winner deep in referee’s optional time.
The Scorchers won the 12-team tournament after winning all their five matches, culminating in a 2-1 triumph over Zambia in the final.
They set the ball rolling by beating hosts and record seven-time champions South Africa’s Banyana Banyana 3-4, before thumping e-Swatini 8-0 and wrapping up their Group A assignments with a 3-1 win over Madagascar and edging Mozambique 2-1 in the semi-finals.
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 Tabitha but this could be her year.
Advertisement