Sports

African men, women footballers make prestigious Ballon d’Or awards shortlist

Published

8 months ago

September 7, 2023

Four African male footballers made the 30-man shortlist of contenders to win this year’s prestigious Ballon d’Or award. The prize is awarded to the footballer deemed to be the best in the world during a football season.

Cameroon and Manchester United goalkeeper, André Onana, who was part of the team that made it to the final of the elite European club Championship, the UEFA Champions League, was among the nominees. Onana had a controversial World Cup experience in Qatar after falling out with his national team manager and was not even included among the substitutes for the Indomitable Lions’ second Group G outing at Qatar 2022.

The second African on the list is Egyptian and Liverpool striker, Mohamed Salah, whose club side had an underwhelming 2022/2023 season after the loss of Senegalese Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich. But Salah managed to acquit himself well with 19 league goals. In the same season, he overtook Robbie Fowler to become the club’s all-time top Premier League goalscorer, and only four men have ever netted more for the Reds in all competitions.

Morocco’s Yassine Bounou, another goalkeeper, also made the list after outstanding performances at the Qatar 2022 World Cup where he kept four clean sheets, the most out of any goalkeeper in the tournament, and made two saves during the round of 16 penalty shoot-out against Spain, leading to Morocco qualifying for the quarter-finals for the first time in their history. He was the first African to reach three clean sheets at a World Cup.

The fourth African on the list is Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen, who is considered one of the best strikers in the world. The 24-year-old sticker had a record-breaking season with Italian side, Napoli, where he scored 26 goals to win the Serie A top scorer award, which led to Napoli winning the Scudetto after a 33-year wait. Osimhen became the first African to win the highest goal scorer award, while also becoming the first player since Zlatan Ibrahimovic to win both the Capocannoniere (top scorer award) and the Scudetto (the league title) in the same season, a record which has stood for 14 long years.

Other nominees on the list are Josko Gvardiol – Manchester City/Croatia, Karim Benzema – Al Ittihad, Jamal Musiala – Bayern Munich/Germany, Jude Bellingham – Real Madrid/England, Bukayo Saka – Arsenal/England, Randal Kolo Muani – Paris Saint-Germain/France, Kevin De Bruyne – Manchester City/Belgium, Bernardo Silva – Manchester City/Portugal, Emiliano Martínez – Aston Villa/Argentina, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – Napoli/Georgia
Rúben Dias – Manchester City/Portugal, Nicolo Barella – Inter Milan/Italy, Erling Haaland – Manchester City/Norway.

Others are Martin Ødegaard – Arsenal/Norway, Julián Álvarez – Manchester City/Argentina, Ilkay Gündogan – Barcelona/Germany, Vinícius Júnior – Real Madrid/Brazil, Lionel Messi – Inter Miami/Argentina, Rodri – Manchester City/Spain, Lautaro Martínez – Inter Milan/Argentina, Antoine Griezmann – Atletico Madrid/France, Robert Lewandowski – Barcelona/Poland, Kylian Mbappé – Paris Saint-Germain/France, Kim Min-Jae – Napoli/South Korea, Luka Modric – Real Madrid/Croatia, and Harry Kane – Bayern Munich/England.

In the women’s category of the award, the continent has one representative on the list. Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala, who plays for FC Barcelona Femini in the Spanish League, made the list. Oshoala is the reigning African women’s player of the year. She scored 21 goals in just 28 games to lead FC Barcelona to the 2022/23 Spanish league title and was the Spanish club’s top-scorer with 27 goals in all competitions.

Oshoala made history at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand by becoming the first female African and Nigerian player to score in three different FIFA World Cups.

Others on the women’s list include Khadija Shaw -Man City/England, Mapi Leon – Barcelona/France, Mary Earps-Man United/England, Wendie Renard – Lyon/France, Katie Mccabe – Arsenal/England, Jill Roord – Wolfsburg and Man City/ England, Yui Hasegawa -Man City/Japan, Alexandra Popp – Wolfsburg/Germany, Aitana Bonmati – Barcelona/Spain, Debinha -Kansas City/ Brazil, Sam Kerr – Chelsea/ Australia, Guro Reiten – Chelsea/ Norway,
Ewa Pajor – Wolfsburg/Poland, Patricia Guijarro – Barcelona/Spain, Daphne Van Domselaar – Twente and Aston Villa/ Netherlands.

The list also has Lena Oberdorf – Wolfsburg/Germany, Hinata Miyazawa – MyNavi Sendai and Man United/ Japan
Millie Bright- Chelsea/England, Salma Paralluelo – Barcelona/Spain, Sophia Smith – Portland Thorns/USA, Hayley Raso (Man City and Real Madrid/Australia, Amanda Ilestedt (PSG and Arsenal/ Sweden, Georgia Stanway – Bayern Munich/ England, Olga Ramona – Real Madrid/ Latvia, Fridolina Rolfo – Barcelona/Sweden, Rachel Daly – Aston Villa/England, Alba Redondo – Levante/ Spain, Linda Caicedo – Real Madrid/ Colombia, and Kadidiatou Diani – Lyon/French.

The winner of the award is voted by journalists from FIFA’s 100 top-ranked member nations. The winners will be announced at a prestigious gala in France in October.

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Sports

Zambia’s women national team coach face new sexual assault allegation

Published

6 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Zambia women national team coach, Bruce Mwape, is facing new allegations of sexual assault and misconduct at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, prompting an investigation by world football governing body, FIFA.

Mwape who is currently facing allegations of sexual harassment after some of his players laid accusations against him, has been accused by a female FIFA contractor of inappropriately touching her breast during the tournament.

A report on the Fifa website disclosed that the body received an official complaint accusing the 64-year-old Mwape of touching the breast of a FIFA contractor from New Zealand.

The complainant is quoted to have told Fifa officials that Mwape had inappropriately touched her breasts in a suggestive manner.

“I remember him putting his hand on my shoulder to say ‘Good morning,’ but then he went again and wiped his hand straight down the front, obviously touching my boob,” the contractor reportedly said.

“It happened so quickly. It felt wrong to me but I also questioned whether it had just been a mistake. But after that, his relationship with me was very different. So I think he knew what he had done was not appropriate,” the unnamed contractor added.

The incident, according to the report, allegedly occurred while the team was staying at an Auckland hotel before their match against Spain.

Sports

Botswanan Tebogo hits at Kenyan Omanyala over claims of being African sprint king

Published

1 day ago

May 15, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Botswanan sprint sensation,
Letsile Tebogo, has hit back at Kenyan 100m champion, Ferdinand Omanyala, over claims that he is the king of African sprint.

Omanyala, in an Track and Field network in April, had laid claims to being the true king of Africa in sprints having risen to prominence in 2021 when he set the record as the fastest man in the continent when he ran 9.77 at the 3rd edition of the Absa Kip Keino classic.

The following year, Omanyala won the 2022 African title in Mauritius, as well as the 100m gold at the Commonwealth Games, feats he believes bestows on him the title of Africa’s king of the sprint.

Though it has not been all rosy for the 28-year-old Omanyala as he has faltered at some big stages having failed to make the final of the Olympic games in Tokyo in 2021 and finished a disappointing seventh at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest last year, he still believes he is head and shoulders above other African stars.

On the other hand, 20-year-old Tebogo has already scored medals in both the 100 and 200m races at the highest stage, which has given him the right to question Omanyala’s claims

“I do not have anything to say. Everything will reveal itself as time goes on,” Tebogo said in an interview with the same Track and Field network on Tuesday.

“To me, it does not make sense if you are the African champion, but where it mattered the most, he could not step in,” he added.

Tebogo who has proven his mettle in the 200m which he claims is the easiest race to compete in, believes it should also be used as a gauge to test the fastest men in the continent apart from just the 100m.

“The 100 is very tactical. Any day can be your day. I believe we should include both races,” he added.