SA stars pitted against the best on the continent in CAF Awards

It’s exactly 15 days before that stage for the prestigious, much-anticipated CAF Awards is set in Marrakech, Morocco, where South African stars and coaches have been pitted against some of the outstanding performers this year.

The year 2024 will go down as one of the most memorable and eventful years of football ever witnessed in SA—both at the club and national team level.


Sunday World takes you through the list of all the players and coaches who will be raising the SA flag high in days to come:

Ronwen Williams (Player of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year, Interclub Player of the Year):

The Mamelodi Sundowns and Bafana Bafana captain has been nominated in three categories and is expected to at least walk away with one or two, if not all, of the coveted awards he has been nominated for.

Williams has been exceptional for both club and country this year, with his exploits later gaining global recognition at the Ballon d’Or Awards recently.

Even though Williams did not win the Yashin Trophy, Kaizer Chiefs legend Itumeleng Khune said he would give the best goalkeeper award in Africa to “Ronza” any day.

“I would give Ronwen the Caf award as the best goalkeeper because I think he did well at the Afcon (Africa Cup of Nations) with Bafana and Sundowns,” Khune recently said.

“And I think he will be back at the Ballon d’Or Awards, and he will surely represent South Africa very well again.”

Hugo Broos (Men’s Coach of the Year):

The only coach to guide Bafana to a podium finish at the Afcon and help them qualify for the competition back-to-back for the first time, Hugo Broos is up there with the best coaches on the continent this year.

Under Broos, Bafana clinched a bronze medal at the Afcon in Ivory Coast early this year and has transformed to be a force to be reckoned with again after a long time.

Thembi Kgatlana & Jermaine Seoposenwe (Women’s Player of the Year):

Despite Banayana not playing a lot of football this year and failing to qualify for the Olympics, Kgatlana has been exceptional at club level.

She secured a big-money move from US side Racing Louisville to Mexican outfit UANL Tigres, which was a club record transfer fee.

She is in the same category as teammate Seoposenwe, who has also been dishing out outstanding performances for her club, Rayadas Monterrey, which beat Kgatlana’s Tigres to a cup final last week.

Thinasonke Mbuli (Women’s Coach of the Year):

There is no other South African female coach who is deserving of this nomination other than Thinasonke Mbuli of the University of the Western Cape.

Mbuli guided UWC to their debut CAF Women’s Champions League and were close to reaching the semi-finals of the competition a few weeks ago.

Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana (National Team of the Year):

Both the South African men’s and women’s senior national teams have been recognised for their efforts and will be competing against some of the best teams in the National Team of the Year category.

Sundowns are also nominated in the men’s and women’s Club of the Year categories for their respective outstanding performances throughout the year, where they both defended their league titles successfully.

Nthabiseng Majiya of Sundowns is nominated for the Women’s Young Player of the Year, while Amogelang Motau of UWC is in the Women’s Interclub Player of the Year category.

Another Sundowns star and Banyana shot-stopper Andile Dlamini will be running for the Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year accolade for the second time.

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