Mamelodi Sundowns, Ronwen Williams, Peter Shalulile and Percy Tau received nominations for this year’s CAF Awards, while head coach Rulani Mokwena was somewhat surprisingly overlooked.
CAF revealed the final shortlists in the men’s categories for their annual awards after announcing the nominees for the women’s categories earlier this week.
Masandawana were named among the final five nominees for the CAF Men’s Club of the Year award after their recent success in the African Football League.
They battle it out for the prize against CAF Champions League winners Al Ahly, runners-up Wydad Athletic Club, CAF Confederations Cup champions USM Alger, who also won the CAF Super Cup, and CAFCC runners-up Young Africans.
Williams has made the shortlist for the CAF Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year after his fine performances for club and country. He will compete with Mohamed El Shenay, Yassine Bounou, Andre Onana and Edouard Mendy.
Meanwhile, Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena was overlooked in the CAF Men’s Coach of the Year category, despite suffering just one defeat in CAF competitions. Last season, they were eliminated by Wydad in the CAFCL semi-final on away goals, but had the highlight of trashing Al Ahly 5-2 at home.
Recently, they won the inaugural African Football League, suffering just one defeat on their way to the title, and eliminating Petro de Luanda and Al Ahly on their way to the final, where they beat Wydad.
The nominees in the CAF Men’s Coach of the Year category are former USM Alger coach Abdelhak Benchikha, Al Ahly’s Marcel Koller, Gambia head coach Tom Saintfiet, Morocco coach Walid Regragui and Senegal’s Aliou Cisse, who won the award last year.
Percy Tau and Peter Shalulile made the final CAF Men’s Interclub Player of the Year shortlist.
Tau is probably among the favourites to win the award after his impressive campaign in the CAF Champions League, scoring five goals and five assists – more than any other player in the competition, as Al Ahly lifted the title.
Meanwhile, Kaizer Chiefs striker Ranga Chivaviro, who was nominated for his CAFCC run with Marumo Gallants last season, and Williams, have dropped out of the nominees’ list after making the initial shortlist for this category.
Finally, the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Riyad Mahrez and Victor Osimhen made the final shortlist for the main award, the CAF Men’s Player of the Year.
