Football: Starlets shortlisted for 2017 CAF award

KENYA VS GHANA Harambee Starlet's Quinter Owiti (left) and Gladys Amfobea of Ghana Princes fight for ball control at Kenyatta stadium on Nov 19, 2017. in Machakos. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Women’s national team Harambee Starlets have been nominated for this year’s National Team of the Year for the AITEO CAF awards.  

The recognition is a result of the team’s impressive performance in their maiden appearance in the Africa Women Cup of Nations (AWCON) 2016 finals that was held in Cameroon, where the Starlets lost all their matches to bow out of the showpiece in the group stages.

Starlets, who were named Women’s Team of The Year at the Sports Personality of the Year (Soya) Awards gala last year, finished fourth in the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) women’s championship where they participated as a guest team.

They also finished runners-up in the Cecafa championship behind winners Tanzania last year.

Ranked 132 in Africa standings, the Starlets face stiff competition from South Africa’s Banyana Banyana who won the 2017 Cosafa title and the Mighty Warriors of Zimbabwe who finished as runners-up in the championship.

South Africa and Zimbabwe took part in the AWCON finals, with Banyana Banyana reaching the semi-finals while Zimbabwe bowed out in the group stage.

Nigeria and Ghana U-20 teams are also in contention for the Team of the Year award for their impressive performance in the Fifa U-20 Women World Cup qualifiers.

The two nations have qualified to the third and final round of the qualifiers where Nigeria will face South Africa and Ghana will play Cameroon for the two continental slots to the worlds.

They featured in the last World Cup held in Jordan but failed to make it to the last four.

The winners from various categories will be voted by members of CAF Technical and Development Committee, CAF Media Experts Panel, Independent Media and TV Consultants. [Rebecca Jebet]