Asisat Oshoala and Gift Monday are the only Super Falcons players left as nominees for honours at the 2022 CAF Awards, along with head coach Randy Waldrum.
The awards ceremony will be held in Rabat on July 21, two days before the final of the Morocco 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
After initially releasing a long list for each of the categories of the awards, the Confederation of African Football announced the final nominees today ahead of next week’s ceremony.
The list released by CAF today comprises 10 nominees for both Women’s Player of the Year and Women’s Interclub Player of the Year, which each previously had 30 nominees.
The Women’s Young Player of the Year and Women’s Club of the Year have five nominees apiece, from the previous 10 each.
CAF stated that 10 nominees have been selected for the Coach of the Year category after taking into consideration the group phase matches at the ongoing WAFCON.
Barcelona striker Oshoala, who had to withdraw from WAFCON due to injury, is the only Nigerian up for the Women’s Player of the Year prize, after her teammates Rasheedat Ajibade, Chiamaka Nnadozie, Uchenna Kanu and Monday Gift were dropped from the shortlist.
Oshoala will battle nine other stars for the award she has won four times, including four South Africans, one of whom is 2018 winner of the award Thembi Kgatlana.
Although dropped from the Women’s Player of the Year contest, Nigeria forward Gift Monday is still up for the Women’s Young Player of the Year prize as she is one of the five players left in the race, along with another Nigerian Flourish Sebastine.
Monday, the Bayelsa Queens forward and Most Valuable Player of the Nigeria Women’s Football League title playoffs, is also an Interclub Women’s Player of the Year finalist.
Super Falcons head coach Randy Waldrum is up for the Women’s Coach of the Year award with nine others, including South Africa’s Desiree Ellis and Morocco’s Reynald Pedros.
CAF explained that the winners of each category will be decided by a voting panel made up of CAF Technical Committee, media representatives, head coaches and captains of national teams and clubs involved in the group stage of the Interclub competitions for the 2021/22 season.
The continental body also noted that the Women’s National Team of the Year will be decided after the WAFCON final on July 23.
NOMINEES
PLAYER OF THE YEAR (WOMEN)
· Ajara Nchout Njoya (Cameroon & Internazionale Milano)
· Evelyn Badu (Ghana & Alvaldsnes)
· Doris Boaduwaa (Ghana & Sekondi Hasaacas)
· Ghizlane Chebbak (Morocco & AS FAR)
· Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria & Barcelona)
· Andile Dlamini (South Africa & Mamelodi Sundowns)
· Bambanani Mbane (South Africa & Mamelodi Sundowns)
· Chrestinah Thembi Kgatlana (South Africa & Atletico Madrid/Racing Louisville)
· Refiloe Jane (South Africa & AC Milan)
· Grace Chanda (Zambia & BIIK Kazygurt)
INTERCLUB PLAYER OF THE YEAR (WOMEN)
· Andile Dlamini (Mamelodi Sundowns)
· Bambanani Mbanie (Mamelodi Sundowns)
· Andisiwe Mgcoyi (Mamelodi Sundowns)
· Evelyn Badu (Sekondi Hasaacas/Alvaldsnes)
· Doris Boaduwaa (Sekondi Hasaacas)
· Ghizlane Chebbak (AS FAR)
· Sanaa Mssoudy (AS FAR)
· Fatima Tagnaout (AS FAR)
· Rose Bella (Malabo Kings)
· Gift Monday (River Angels/FC Robo)
YOUNG PLAYER OF of THE YEAR (WOMEN)
· Evelyn Badu (Ghana & Sekondi Hasaacas/Alvaldsnes)
· Doris Boaduwaa (Ghana & Sekondi Hasaacas/Alvaldsnes)
· Yasmine Zouhir (Morocco & AS Saint-Etienne)
· Gift Monday (Nigeria & River Angels/FC Robo)
· Flourish Sebastine (Nigeria & Bayelsa Queens)
COACH OF THE YEAR (WOMEN)
· Gaoletlhoo Nkutlwisang (Botswana)
· Gabriel Zabo (Cameroon)
· Yusif Basigi (Hasaacas Ladies)
· Reynald Pedros (Morocco)
· Randy Waldrum (Nigeria)
· Serigne Amar Mousse Niang Cisse (Senegal)
· Desiree Ellis (South Africa)
· Jerry Tshabalala (Mamelodi Sundowns)
· Samir Landolsi (Tunisia)
· Bruce Mwape (Zambia)
CLUB OF THE YEAR (WOMEN)
· Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa)
· Sekondi Hasaacas (Ghana)
· AS FAR (Morocco)
· Malabo Kings (Equatorial Guinea)
· Rivers Angels (Nigeria)
