United, Downs stars in line for African honours
Mamelodi Sundowns’ ace Percy Tau made the longlist of the nominees for both the Caf Footballer of the Year and Caf ’s Footballer of the Year – Based in Africa awards.
Tau’s roar has been heard across the continent thanks to his exploits with the Brazilians and Bafana Bafana. The Sundowns’ midfielder was instrumental in the club’s quest to retain their Caf Champions League before bowing out in the quarterfinals. Tau is part of a star-studded 30-man longlist for the main award that includes his teammate Denis Onyango – the reigning Footballer of the Year – Based in Africa.
Egyptian legend Essam El Hadary, along with his countryman Mohamed Salah, Senegal’s Sadio Mane and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Gabon and Borussia Dortmund are among the favourites for the award.
The SuperSport United duo of Dean Furman and Jeremy Brockie lead the pack in the Footballer of the Year – Based in Africa award after leading Matsatsantsa a Pitori to the final of the Caf Confederation Cup. Brockie leads the scorer’s chart with 10 goals in the tournament. Tau and Onyango make up the South Africa based contingent.
The longlist will be trimmed down until they reach the final three that will be at the awards ceremony on January 4 in Accra, Ghana. The winner will be decided by votes from the head coaches or technical directors of the 54 national associations affiliated to Caf, members of the Caf technical and development committee and a panel of media experts. –
NJABULO NGIDI
1 Ali Maaloul (Tunisia/Al Ahly) 2 Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso/Lyon) 3 Cedric Bakambu (DR Congo/Villareal) 4 Christian Atsu (Ghana/Newcastle) 5 Christian Bassogog (Cameroon/Henan Jianye) 6 Denis Onyango (Uganda/Sundowns) 7 Eric Bailly (Cote d’Ivoire/Man United) 8 Essam El Hadary (Egypt/Al Taawoun) 9 Fabrice Ondoa (Cameroon/Sevilla) 10 Fackson Kapumbu (Zambia/Zesco) 11 Jean Michel Seri (Cote d’Ivoire/Nice) 12 Junior Kabananga (DR Congo/Astana) 13 Karim El Ahmadi (Morocco/Feyenoord) 14 Keita Balde (Senegal/Monaco) 15 Khalid Boutaib (Morocco/Malatyaspor) 16 Mbwana Samata (Tanzania/Genk) 17 Michael Olunga (Kenya/Girona) 18 Mohamed Salah (Egypt/Liverpool) 19 Moussa Marega (Mali/Porto) 20 Naby Keita (Guinea/RB Leipzig) 21 Percy Tau (South Africa/Sundowns) 22 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon/ Borussia Dortmund) 23 Sadio Mane (Senegal/Liverpool) 24 Thomas Partey (Ghana/Atletico Madrid) 25 Victor Moses (Nigeria/Chelsea) 26 Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon/Porto) 27 William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria/Bursaspor) 28 Yacine Brahimi (Algeria/Porto) 29 Youssef Msakni (Tunisia/Al Duhail) 30 Yves Bissouma (Mali/Lille) 1 Achraf Bencharki (Morocco/Wydad AC) 2 Ahmed Fathi (Egypt/Al Ahly) 3 Alkhaly Bangoura (Guinea/Etoile du Sahel) 4 Ali Maaloul (Tunisia/Al Ahly) 5 Aristide Bance (Burkina Faso/Al Masry) 6 Ayman Majid (Morocco/FUS Rabat) 7 Aymen Mathlouthi (Tunisia/Etoile du Sahel) 8 Ben Malango (DR Congo/TP Mazembe) 9 Dean Furman (South Africa/Supersport) 10 Denis Onyango (Uganda/Sundowns) 11 Elsamani Saadeldin (Sudan/Al Merreikh) 12 Fackson Kapumbu (Zambia/Zesco) 13 Fawzi Chaouchi (Algeria/MC Alger) 14 Geoffrey Serunkuma (Uganda/KCCA) 15 Jeremy Brockie (New Zealand/Supersport) 16 Junior Ajayi (Nigeria/Al Ahly) 17 Karim Aouadhi (Tunisia/CS Sfaxien) 18 Mohamed Meftah (Algeria/USM Alger) 19 Mohamed Ounnajem (Morocco/Wydad) 20 Muaid Ellafi (Libya/Ahly Tripoli) 21 Nasr Eldin Ahmed (Sudan/Hilal Obeid) 22 Oussama Darfalou (Algeria/USM Alger) 23 Percy Tau (South Africa/Sundowns) 24 Sabelo Ndzinisa (Swaziland/Mbabane Swallows) 25 Saber Khalifa (Tunisia/Club Africain) 26 Saladin Said (Ethiopia/Saint George) 27 Sylvain Gbohouo (Cote d’Ivoire/TP Mazembe) 28 Tady Etekiama (DR Congo/AS Vita) 29 Taha Yassine Khenissi (Tunisia/Esperance) 30 Tarek Hamed (Egypt/Zamalek)