Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams believes he is already a winner following his nomination on the final shortlist for the CAF Awards.
Confederation of African Football (CAF) failed to whittle down the nominees to three ahead of next Monday’s awards gala in Marrakech, Morocco, deciding to retain the final five that were initially shortlisted for the African Player of the Year Award.
It leaves Williams to fight it out with Nigeria’s Ademola Lookman of Italian club Atalanta, who led them to Europe League glory, Ivorian winger Simon Adingra of Brighton and Hove Albion, who won the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, Guinea and Borussia Dortmund striker Serhou Guirassy as well as Paris Saint-German’s Moroccan full-back Achraf Hakimi.
The Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper is delighted to have made another shortlist and feels it is testament to the hard work he has been putting in alongside his team-mates.
Ronza happy to enjoy fruits of his labour
“It's an unbelievable personal achievement and obviously I would not have done it by myself. The number of clean sheets we've had over the last year. It is testimony to the work that we've done, not only me, but as a collective,” Williams, voted best goalkeeper at the 2023 Africa cup of Nations, said on Friday.
“The amount of work we do in this boardroom analysing opponents, studying opponents and checking their weaknesses, plays its part. I'm just glad and happy that I'm representing South Africa. Hopefully, I inspire the coming and even current generation to dream big.
“Here is someone who's never had it smooth but is now nominated among the best goalkeepers in the world and Africa. We just need to open the doors for others to dream bigger because we can win.
“If we have the right mindset and if we persevere, because I had to persevere throughout my career, and now, I would be able to bear all the fruits of the hard labour I had to go through.”
Will Williams make CAF Awards history?
Williams could become the first South African player to be crowned Africa’s finest and he feels having a goalkeeper on the final shortlist speaks volumes.
“For me it's unbelievable, amazing and the coach [Miguel Cardoso] can attest to how the WhatsApp [Sundowns] group was going yesterday [Thursday night]. So many messages and everyone is happy and excited,” he added.
“I'm just glad and happy to be among the greats. For me, I'm already a winner, just being there with the world stars. For Ronwen Williams from South Africa being there as a goalkeeper speaks volumes. It is just about keep believing, keep going and hopefully inspire South Africans to stay at this level.”
It has been a good year for Williams who is also nominated in the Goalkeeper of the Year category, having been shortlisted the Yashin Trophy, awarded to the best goalkeeper in the world at the prestigious Ballon d’Or awards, where he finished ninth, as well as FIFA The Best Awards, although he did not make the final shortlist.
