Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams is nominated for the Yashin Trophy at the Ballon d’Or Awards, whose ceremony will be held in Paris on Monday night.
The Yashin Trophy is awarded to the best goalkeeper in the world, rewarding individual performances, decisive and impressive character, team performances and achievements as well as class and fair play.
History of Yashin Trophy
The Yashin Trophy for goalkeepers was introduced in 2019 to shed more light on a decisive role that had only one Ballon d'Or winner since 1956.
The trophy was named after Soviet Union (now Russia) Lev Yashin, the only goalkeeper to win the Ballon d'Or to date in 1963.
Who has won it before?
Brazilian Allison Becker, who plays for Liverpool, won the inaugural Yashin Trophy in 2019 after helping the Premier League giants to Champions League glory before he was succeeded by Italian and Paris Saint-Germain stopper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who was instrumental in his country’s Euro 2020 victory.
Donnarumma won the trophy in 2021 after the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Real Madrid’s Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois claimed the 2022 award after the league and Champions League double for Los Blancos before he was succeeded by Aston Villa’s Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez in 2023.
How have African goalkeepers fared?
Senegal’s Edouard Mendy came close to winning the Yashin Trophy in 2021 when he finished second to Donnarumma after helping Chelsea to Champions League glory while Morocco’s Yassine Bounou was third last year.
Could Ronwen Williams join the exclusive club?
Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams is the first player based in Africa to have received a Ballon d’Or nomination and he is up against Martinez, who is seeking a second straight Yashin Trophy, Diogo Costa (Portugal/FC Porto), Donnarumma (Italy/PSG) and Gregor Kobel (Switzerland/Borussia Dortmund).
Others are; Andriy Lunin (Ukraine/Real Madrid), Mike Maignan (France/AC Milan), Giorgi Mamarsdashvili (Georgia/Valencia), Emiliano Martinez (Argentina/Aston Villa), Unai Simon (Spain/Athletic Bilbao) and Yann Sommer (Switzerland/Inter Milan).
