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Bruce Chikuni
Sports Reporter
MIGHTY Warriors goalkeeper, Cynthia Shonga of Harare City is on cloud nine after being nominated for the inaugural Confederation of African Football Goalkeeper of the Year award for 2023 after her exploits at the Cosafa Women’s Championships.
The 2023 CAF awards will take place on December 11 in Marrakesh, Morocco.
Yesterday the continental football governing body unveiled the preliminary nominees for the various women’s categories for the CAF Awards 2023.
According to CAF, a distinguished panel made up of CAF Technical Experts, Legends, and selected media representatives decided on the nominees, taking into consideration their performances at all levels from December 2022 to November 2023.
And, just as in the men’s category, the best women’s goalkeeper will be rewarded for the first time to celebrate the heroic efforts of the shot-stoppers.
The 23-year-old Shonga made it among the 10 players, who have been nominated for the first-ever CAF Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year award.
In the other categories, 30 players will vie for the prestigious Player of the Year, which Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala claimed for a record fifth time during the last Awards Gala in July 2022 in Rabat, Morocco.
Ten nominees each have been pencilled for the Interclub Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, National Team of the Year and Young Player of the Year, limited to players not more than 21 years. The finalists of the ongoing CAF Women’s Champions League Cote d’Ivoire 2023 have each been rewarded with a place in the Club of the Year category.
The winner of each category will be decided after votes from a voting panel consisting of CAF Technical Committee, media professionals from Member Associations, Head Coaches & Captains of Member Associations and clubs involved at the group stages of the Interclub competitions.
Shonga’s efforts to get Zimbabwe firing at the recent COSAFA Women’s Championship were noticed as she recorded two clean sheets in four attempts to secure the tournament’s Golden Glove despite the Mighty Warriors finishing fourth.
Speaking to Zimpapers Sports yesterday, Shonga was thrilled to be among the continent’s 10 best goalkeepers for 2023.
And she hopes this is a stepping stone for a dream foreign breakthrough.
“I’m grateful for this recognition and I want to thank God for making this possible.
“It’s something I wasn’t expecting not that I doubt my ability but because there are many good goalkeepers in Africa.
“I want to thank the entire Mighty Warriors technical team, my teammates and everyone at Harare City for this achievement. I hope it will open doors for me to get a foreign club and that’s what I’m not working on,” Shonga said.
Goalkeeper of the Year Nominees
Ange Bawou (Cameroon, Bayelsa Queens/ BIIK-Shymkent); Dolores Hernandez Masongo (Equatorial Guinea, Huracanes); Imane Abdelahad (Morocco, SC Cas-ablanca); Khadija ErRmichi (Morocco, AS FAR); Chiamaka Nnadozie (Nigeria, Paris FC); Andile Dlamini (South Africa, Mamelodi Sundowns); Kaylin Swart (South Africa, JVW); Najiat Abass Idrisa (Tanzania, JKT Queens); Catherine Musonda (Zambia, Tomiris Turan); Cynthia Shonga (Zimbabwe, Harare City)
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