By McGeorge Mbare
Nigerian goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali missed out on the final top 3 of CAF men’s goalkeeper of the year nominees despite his stellar performance this year leading his country to the AFCON finals in Ivory Coast.
The final list of three who will fight for the top gong has Cameroonian Andrea Onana, South Africa’s Ronwen Williams and Yahia Fofana of current African champions , the Ivory Coast.
At the AFCON campaign, Stanley Nwabali played seven games, kept four clean sheets and saved two crucial penalties in the semi-final shootout before losing 2-1 against Ivory Coast in the final.
Some fans have registered their frustration at Nwabali missing through social media.
With Nwabali missing out , the pendulum no doubt is tilted in favour of South Africa’s Ronwen Williams who was in the top ten of the Balloon d’Or but he still faces competition from Fofana , one of the leading lights in the Ivorian team that swept all to take the African crown.
Elsewhere, on the African Men’s player of the year category, Nigeria‘s forward Ademola Lookman leads the way alongside South Africa ‘s Ronwen Williams ,Ivorian Simon Adingra ,Guinean Serhou Guirassy and the Moroccan wing back Achraf Hakimi.
This category includes exceptional talent which has excelled throughout 2024. Only Rowen Williams is the only African based player among the list.