To many football addicts in Uganda, Denis Onyango is widely regarded as the best player of this generation.
If the trophy cabinet is the benchmark, then he is up among the nation’s greatest players ever. On the field, legendary Phillip Omondi is still the greatest though. Onyango is in line to defend his Africa Player of the Year based in Africa honour after making the 10-man shortlist that was recently released by Caf on Monday.
More interesting is that the Mamelodi Sundowns’ shot-stopper is the only African-based who made the 10-man shortlist for the Africa Player of the Year Award whose function is set for January 4, 2018 in Ghana capital Accra. The Ugandan custodian may not have performed well like last year at club level where he won the Caf Champions League, Premier Soccer League and featured at the Fifa Club World Cup. But he won the Caf Super Cup where Sundowns beat DR Congo’s TP Mazembe 1-0 and conceded only two goals in the Cranes’ quest for a slot at the 2018 Fifa World Cup.
While it is a tall order to beat the likes of Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, Monaco’s Keita Balde among others to the Africa Player of the Year award, Onyango will hope he can upstage the rest again for the continental-based award.
He faces Caf Confederation Cup winner Ben Malango of TP Mazembe and tournament top scorer Jeremy Brockie of SuperSport United. Also, Caf Champions League winners Achraf Bencharki and Mohammed Ounnajem of Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca are part of the list.
AITEO CAF AWARDS
NOMINEE LISTS
African Player of the Year: Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso & Olympique Lyon), Denis Onyango (Uganda & Mamelodi Sundowns), Karim El Ahmadi (Morocco & Feyenoord), Keita Balde (Senegal & Monaco), Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool), Naby Keita (Guinea & RB Leipzig), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon & B. Dortmund), Sadio Mane (Senegal & Liverpool), Victor Moses (Nigeria & Chelsea), Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon & Porto), Yacine Brahimi (Algeria & Porto)
Player of the Year (Based in Africa): Achraf Bencharki (Morocco & Wydad Athletic Club), Ahmed Fathi (Egypt & Al Ahly), Ali Maaloul (Tunisia & Al Ahly), Aristide Bance (Burkina Faso & El Masry), Ben Malango (DR Congo & TP Mazembe), Denis Onyango (Uganda & Mamelodi Sundowns), Jeremy Brockie (New Zealand & Supersport), Junior Ajayi (Nigeria & Al Ahly), Mohamed Ounnajem (Morocco & Wydad Athletic Club), Taha Yassine Khenisssi (Tunisia & Esperance)
Women’s Player of the Year: Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria & Dalian Quanjian), Chrestina Kgatlana (South Africa & UWC Ladies), Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene(Cameroon & Rossyanka), Rutendo Makore (Zimbabwe & Black Rhinos), Tabitha Chawinga (Malawi & Kvarnsvedens)
Women’s National Team of the Year: Ghana U-20, Kenya, Nigeria U-20, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Coach of the Year: Gernot Rohr (Nigeria), Hector Cuper (Egypt), Hugo Broos (Cameroon), L'Hussein Amoutta (Wydad Athletic Club), Mihayo Kazembe (TP Mazembe)
National Team of the Year: Cameroon, Egypt, Mali U-17, Nigeria, Zambia U-20
Club of the Year: Al Ahly, Mbabane Swallows, SuperSport United, TP Mazembe, Wydad Athletic Club
Youth Player of the Year: Eric Ayiah (Ghana & Charity Stars), Krepin Diatta (Senegal & Sarpsborg), Luther Singh (South Africa & Braga), Patson Daka (Zambia & Liefering), Salam Giddou (Mali & Guidars)
Referee of the Year: Bamlak Tessema (Ethiopia), Ghead Grisha (Egypt), Janny Sikazwe (Zambia), Malang Diedhiou (Senegal), Mehdi Abid Charef (Algeria), Papa Bakary Gassama (Gambia)
This writer is a scribe with Daily Monitor Newspaper and, also a sports presenter with NBS Television and Radio One FM 90 in Kampala. Follow him on Twitter: @AllanDarren and his Facebook Page: Darren Allan Kyeyune