The top 5 contenders!
Ronaldo’s reign ends!
The 30-man Ballon d’Or shortlist was released on 6 September, and it raised several talking points ahead of its official presentation to the winner on 30 October at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. One was the omission of forward Marcus Rashford on the back of a personalbest season in which he registered 30 goals and 11 assists and helped Manchester United to their first trophy (the Carabao Cup) in six seasons. However, perhaps more significant was the absence of fivetime winner of the award, Cristiano Ronaldo, from the shortlist, marking the first time this has happened in 20 years. The Portuguese superstar formed one part of a historic duopoly for the award with Lionel Messi beginning in 2009, and his omission from the nominees list signals an end of an era of dominance – with the now-Inter Miami star also likely set to appear for the final time among the 30 candidates this year. Although it remains to be seen who will lift the celebrated individual prize, there’s a staunch public opinion that Messi’s World Cup triumph will be enough to seal him a record-extending eighth Ballon d’Or, but there are some strong cases to be made for Manchester City duo Erling Haaland and Rodri, as well as the noteworthy inclusion of another 2022 World Cup finalist, Kylian Mbappe.
Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain/Inter Miami, Argentina)
The 36-year-old is considered the
The 2023 Ballon d’Or awards are set to produce a landmark moment in the history of football as it promises to be both the end of an old, and the beginning of a new, era in the sport. At the centre of this conversation is seventime Golden Ball winner Lionel Messi, whose stunning heroics at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar helped Argentina lift the prestigious trophy for the first time in 36 years. With loud calls for the former FC Barcelona superstar to claim a parting eighth Ballon d’Or, Soccer Laduma’s Lukhanyo Mtuta states the case for four other players likely to challenge the little magician for this year’s much-anticipated accolade.
favourite to be awarded the coveted prize after a sensational display in Qatar, where he produced seven goals and three assists, including a brace in the final against France, before later converting from the spot during a tense penalty shootout finale. He has since been heralded as the greatest footballer of all time by many, and loosely termed the “GOAT”. The World Cup was his third trophy of the 2022/23 campaign after winning Ligue 1 and the French Super Cup in a turbulent final season at Paris Saint-Germain. A productive return of 21 goals and 20 assists in 41 games for the Parisians certainly adds weight to his case – although his experience at the club in the final few months took a nosedive that saw him being booed during matches by a radical section of the PSG fanbase. Regardless, Messi is firmly a frontrunner after he almost single-handedly inspired an Albiceleste team to the top of the world, following decades of the country seeming like a fallen football giant in the aftermath of Diego Maradona’s success at the 1986 edition of the showpiece.
Erling Haaland (Manchester City, Norway)
Perhaps the strongest contender to challenge Messi is the Norwegian sensation who has captivated European club football courtesy of his incredible goalscoring record, complemented by four trophies in his first season at Manchester City. Haaland scored 52 goals in 53 games to lead his side to a famous continental treble, claiming the 2022/23 Premier League,
FA Cup and UEFA Champions League titles – the first in the Manchester outfit’s history. There had been ongoing criticism of Pep Guardiola’s managerial career, with many arguing that the Catalan tactician could not win the Champions League without Messi after failing to lift the acclaimed trophy for six seasons at the Etihad and four years at Bayern Munich, before finally doing so last term. In truth, Haaland was perhaps the decisive factor in City’s muchawaited continental success after he scored a season-topping 12 goals in 11 UCL matches. The young centre-forward also set unprecedented scoring numbers in the Premier League as he became a record holder for the most goals scored in a single English top-flight season with 36 strikes. Five hattricks and a five-goal haul in one game against RB Leipzig in March signified the marksman’s menacing form in front of goal last season, which now places him in a strong position to claim his first-ever Ballon d’Or award, which would also be the first for a Norwegian.
Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain, France)
Yet again, Mbappe proved to be his country’s most important player at a World Cup, with his eight goals and two assists, including a hattrick in the final against Argentina, earning him the 2022 tournament’s Golden Boot award. The 24-yearold not only became just the second player in history to score a hattrick in a men’s World Cup final after Geoff Hurst, but he has now also netted the most goals scored in finals, with four. For PSG, he contributed a squad-high 41 goals and 10 assists in 43 games last season, becoming the club’s alltime top goalscorer in the process, replacing Edinson Cavani in the team’s history books. The pacey No. 7 has been a regular feature among the nominees over the past few years, with his 2023 inclusion being the sixth of his career since he made history as the youngestever nominee for the Ballon d’Or in 2017. Mbappe has already backed himself to be a potential winner, stating in July, “The new criteria) for winning the Ballon d’Or), it’s about burning eyes, it’s someone who has had an impact... I think I correspond to these criteria, so I would say... yes (he can win it). But we’ll see.”
Rodri (Manchester City, Spain)
Rodri’s inclusion among the top contenders is motivated by the fact that he was exceptional on the road to winning important titles for both club and country over the past year. A first-ever continental treble with the Citizens and a maiden UEFA Nations League triumph with Spain capped off a hugely successful yet long 2022/23 campaign that saw him play more than 60 games overall. The Spaniard was voted the 2022/23 Man City Footballer of the Year ahead of Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, and was named the Nations League’s Player of the Tournament. He was also decisive in the Champions League final, scoring the only goal of the match in a narrow 1-0 win over Inter
Milan in June. Speaking during the international break about his ambition of winning the award, he said, “I’m proud to be on this list. Winning it would be a dream come true, but I know the players on it. It’s been a very special and important season for me, and certain titles have allowed me to be on it. I have teammates who deserve it too.” It would not be unusual to see a more defensive-minded central midfielder occupying a topthree ranking for the Ballon d’Or either, with former Chelsea star Jorginho and Real Madrid’s Luka Modric having finished inside the top three in recent years despite playing a less attacking midfield role.
Victor Osimhen (Napoli, Nigeria)
The outside shout goes to Victor Osimhen following an astonishing campaign with Napoli. The Nigerian pushed the Naples outfit to their first Serie A title in 33 years and, similar to Messi, repeating a feat previously achieved by Maradona, who helped the Italian team to their previous Scudetto crown. The 24-year-old scored 31 goals in 39 games last season, winning the Italian topflight Golden Boot in the process. His five goals in six Champions League games last term were also instrumental in helping Napoli to their best-ever finish in the tournament (the quarter-finals). The lanky forward’s stock has drastically increased as a result, with Transfermarkt now valuing him at a career-high of €120 million (R2.4 billion).
Delmain Faver: Shawn, a month has passed since it was officially announced that you would be leaving Mamelodi Sundowns. When and why did you make the decision?
Shawn Bishop:
There was a multitude of factors and none of them had actually anything to do with Sundowns. I think we were at the end of a development cycle at the club. I had already been talking to the board and the Chairman (Tlhopie Motsepe) about my pathway and growth. My passion is in youth football. I have no desire to be under the pressure Rhulani is under and all that sort of stuff. So, where do you go from Mamelodi Sundowns? Nowhere in South Africa, for definite. And in Africa, it’s probably only teams in Egypt and Morocco. But the mitigating factor is that my wife is Portuguese. I just completed my Master’s degree in High Performance Football from the Faculty of Human Movement at the University of Lisbon, and I thought it was time for a change for myself. I was part of the transition with Flemming (Berg, sporting director) coming in. I was consulted on that and let me tell you, he’s somebody special. I’ve learned so much from him in the last year-and-a-half. Then, of course, bringing in the new Academy Director, Paulo Cardoso, I was also involved in that because I thought if we were, as a club, again to start competing on the global stage, we needed global minds and people that have been involved on a global scale – and that’s the vision of the club, the board, the Chairman, the Motsepe family. So, yeah, that was the decision made, and I’ve also got to get out of my comfort zones and become somebody involved on the global scale. I know in South Africa… sometimes we have to be honest, we can be quite comfortable and the those are the things that needed to change. You have clubs like Generation Foot, Right To Dream, and these academies are doing special stuff in Africa and we, the general public, are not seeing the things that they do. Right To Dream started in Ghana, they now own a club in Egypt called Foot FC and have the academy there. They have FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark and last month they bought an MLS team in San Diego. If we are gonna stay closed in our little world and then every time we don’t qualify for Afcon or Bafana Bafana doesn’t qualify for a World Cup… You know, really we’re living in our own world. And part of my ambitions by moving was also to open pathways for our young players and for them to get into Europe as quickly as possible, and the start is someone like Cassius (Mailula). Even though on a European scale, on a global scale he’s left it quite late, but he did exceptionally well to go to the MLS, and that’s what my dream is and ambition is to start opening pathways for these young kids. Boys and girls, by the way, not just boys.
DF: In the time that you were at Downs, a lot changed in the development ranks where the club paid a lot more attention to grooming youth players.
SB:
Well, that was part of the long-term development plan for the club. I was lucky enough to join the club where the board and the Motsepe family understand that the development of human capital takes time. It’s not a business like mining or owning shops or something like that where you get the right location and you can start making a profit in three months. Human capital takes time. We all have children, and you can’t expect a 12or 13-year-old to be thinking like a university student, and that was one of my biggest challenges, getting the buy-in, and we eventually did. I mean, all the coaches that are there have been phenomenal. Surprise (Moriri), Godfrey (Sapula), Mike (Ntombela), David (Notoane), Tiro (Van Rooyen), all of them that were part of the academy understood the process of how long it takes for children to develop and the pedagogy of children. You have to just keep on understanding that in youth development, you have to be extremely agile. We partnered with some really good partners. Clapham High School have been fantastic in supporting the programme, gave us the leeway to move boys in and out of the class to go to training… all these sort of things. The recent partnership with Tuks, which is going on to its third year, has now fostered the continued education pathway of players. Because truth be told, you cannot divorce education from football. You cannot! And I’m tired of people talking about education and football. They are one and the same thing. That is something men’s football can learn from women’s football. Our women’s senior team, 95% of the girls have tertiary education and degrees. You just look now at the Women’s World Cup, we got girls playing in the Nigerian team that are microbiologists doing cancer research, and they are playing at World Cups. These sort of things are vital now and that kind of pathway is clearly understood in Europe. In Africa, particularly in South Africa, there’s massive resistance. It’s ‘you’re either a footballer or you’re not. You can either go to school or you can play football, you can’t do both.’ That really has to come to an end.
DF: Go on… SB:
The next phase of the cycle with Sundowns, which I’ve started… thankfully in the last two months when I was at the club, Paulo was there as well and we worked so well together whilst I was doing the handover. He’s kicked in the next phase now where we will be introducing… I think there were seven academy boys that went on a pre-season tour with the first team, and all of those guys have been identified to go into now what we call our online school platform, which will allow them to train with the first team in the morning. We will also have tutors at Chloorkop and they will ensure that they matriculate and then of course go on to do tertiary education. I mean, Percy (Tau) got a degree, Cassius has a degree, and if the kids of South Africa cannot see that, I don’t know what they are thinking because a young man or young woman that can process information in an academic environment can also process information on the pitch. They can solve problems on the pitch because they are solving problems in the classroom. They just apply theories and principles across whatever they are doing. So, yeah, that’s the next phase of the club. The recruitment is now gonna kick into overdrive. With Flemming there, the recruitment of the senior team has become more laser-beamed, if I want to put it like that. With Brian Hunt there with the data analytics, with Ryan and with Flemming and then of course with the board, they are looking for specific players. It’s not that a player is suddenly available so now we can buy him because he won Player of the Season last year. It’s a philosophy at the club, it’s the way the club wants to go forward – quick football, high-speed football, quick transitions, and that will filter down all the way into the academy. So, we are starting with our U11s, which are being handpicked now. The girls’ academy will start fulltime, full force from January, and those girls have also been handpicked. We have seven training with the first team now, all under the age of 16. So, we’ve gone and fetched those players from other teams and we recruited them for the club to grow and have a succession plan going forward.
DF: You occupied a number of roles at Chloorkop, like assistant coach for the reserve team, Head of Technical of the Elite Players and Women’s Programs, head coach for the ABC Motsepe League team (M-Tigers) and Head of Academy & Methodology. How did these roles shape your view of football?
SB:
That’s true, and that has put me in good stead and funny enough, the more you know, the less you know.
So, that was part of my next role in the club. I facilitated the growth of the academy coaches. Surprise and Godfrey are doing their UEFA B Licence, as well as David. Getting all the youth coaches onto their CAF licensing and hopefully we’ll get some coaches going to the CAF B License in Tanzania next month because unfortunately, SAFA aren’t doing it, so I’ve had to engage with another Football Association to assist us. On the women’s side, I had started to identify the players that were approaching retirement age within the next two to three years, because remember women retire later than the men because they look after their bodies better than the men do. So, I’ve identified six of the girls in the first team and I’ve put them on that pathway to coaching, Rhoda (Mulaudzi), Andisiwe (Mgcoyi), Zanele (Nhlapo), Lerato (Kgasago). Then you have Tshwene Morife, because of her educational background in statistics and mathematics, she is part of Ryan Hunt’s data team. Though she’s still playing for the first team, she’s in the process of being integrated into the club post-retirement. She will then have opportunities further in the club. Then, of course, putting all those girls onto the CAF coaching licences, they are all going on to their B licences next month. That’s the next generation because we have to keep the golden thread within the club. They’ve played for the club, they understand the DNA of the club, they understand what it’s like to wear the jersey, but more importantly, facilitate and educate them so that they can make sure of the next generation. Then with the head coach Rhulani (Mokwena), he’s fantastic. His sessions are open to all the coaches. I mean, even the girl-coaches go to his sessions and they watch and they engage and they are learning. So, it’s really a very big cultural shift within the club where it’s like… I want to say it’s like a hive mentality, if you want to put it like that.
DF: Speaking of coach Rhulani, what have you made of his growth?
SB: Yeah, I’m… well, what can I say? He’s fantastic. Funny enough, Rhulani and I sat in the same boardroom the day we started at Sundowns – we were interviewed together at the club. We were laughing about it the day I left. We were sitting in his office chatting about it, and we are both at the pinnacle – him in the first team, me at the youth development level, though I tend to stay in the background. I don’t like too much spotlight on me or anything like that. But it was good to see because Rhulani is a student of the game. He wants to succeed. He works hard and even between himself and me, you know that that drive to get better, the internal intrinsic competition that you foster is something that takes his coaching to the next level. He has a great mentor in coach Pitso (Mosimane) and I really think and I’m going to speak over it… we may see a Rhulani-Pitso Champions League final in the near future, which would be quite something. But, yeah really, he’s done well, and his mindset is really a winning mindset. When I say ‘winning’, I don’t mean just getting the three points, it’s about being better every day and that’s how I like to think of myself as well. I mean, I’m sitting here in the mornings getting up to watch the World Cup and then I’m on webinars and things like that just whilst I’m having a little bit of downtime. So, I wish him all the success and with the support from the Chairman… the changes at the club are literally tangible. You can feel the changes when you walk into the club.
DF: Care to let us in on your next move in Portugal?
SB: No, not yet. I’m waiting for some paperwork, so not as yet…
The once well-oiled German machine has become very rusty lately. Jules Nagelsmann is currently unemployed and perhaps he might be asked to lead them when hosting Euro Championships in nine moths time. In parting, I must admit that it is very boring when it is FIFA week. I cannot wait for club football to resume so that in our Soccer Laduma readers’ WhatsApp group, we can have a field day teasing those on the wrong end of a result. Amos “Tiger” Tshukudu, Ga-Maria
Our heartfelt condolences to the Pereira family for losing a legend in Frank “Jingles” Pereira. He was a true legend in the ’70s and ’80s featuring for teams such as Powerlines, Highlands Park and Kaizer Chiefs. He helped the latter to win 10 trophies, including a league title, in 1979. May your departed soul rest in eternal peace. On a different note, a lot was expected of Bafana Bafana against Namibia as the latter are not amongst the football powerhouses on the continent – alas, a dull draw! Despite the setback, Hugo Broos achieved his goal of expanding his pool of players as he gave the likes of Kobamelo Kodisang, Grant Margeman and Thabiso Monyane debuts on the day. It was also good for him to recall long-time absentee from the squad, Lebo Mothiba. That is a step in the right direction and it will help in future in case of suspensions and injuries to key players.