In the lists of football players nominated for the various categories in the running for the CAF 2024 awards, only two Cameroonian names appear. And the best player of the year is not in the most prestigious category. They are Carlos Baleba and André Onana. The first is in the race for young man of the year, and the second is for goalkeeper of the year. Carlos Baléba from Brighton will have to compete against rivals such as Karim Konaté from the Ivory Coast (Salzburg), Lamine Camara from Senegal (Monaco), the Moroccan Bilal El Khannouss (Leicester), the Ghanaian Abdul Aziz Issah (Dreams FC and Barcelona), … the Indomitable Lions midfielder has a real chance to make his mark in this group of ten young, long-toothed wolves. For his part, André Onana, the main goalkeeper of Manchester United, seems to be in a better position to be crowned the best African goalkeeper of the year. The Manchester United goalkeeper has slightly fewer rivals. Among other competitors, we find Yahia Fonana from Ivory Coast (Angers), Oussama Benbot from Algeria (USM Algiers), Lionel Mpasi from DRC (Rodez FC), Ronwen Williams from South Africa (Mamelodi Sundowns), … Just a number 24 of the Mancuniens play in a club that is famous around the world. But nothing is won in advance.
For other categories, Cameroonians will be spectators at the race. After Cameroonian clubs are only added in competitions between clubs, no Cameroonian player or club is selected. The same for coaches. The country of Roger Milla has used two coaches during the year, but it is only the current one that is able to bring amazing content to the game. The 2023 African Cup of Nations (CAN) which was played at the beginning of the year in Ivory Coast was not very memorable for the Indomitable Lions who were eliminated in the second round, i.e. the 8th finals. And naturally, the most prestigious title, the title of the best player, does not belong to Cameroon. This will be the case for players from seven nationalities: Algeria (Amine Gouiri), Morocco (Soufiane Rahimi and Achraf Hakimi), Burkina Faso (Edmond Tapsoba), Nigeria (Ademola Lookman and William Ekong), DRC (Chancellor Mbemba), Ghana (Sehrou Guirassy ) and South Africa (Ronwen William). The latter is the only one that competes in two divisions. He is already lined up among the bookies.
A meeting will be held at the end of the year for the results.
