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Super Falcons goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie was officially crowned the best goalkeeper at the 2023 CAF Awards but also surprisingly left out of the CAF FIFPRO Africa Best XI and here are three reasons for this contradiction.
The 2023 CAF Awards in Marrakech, Morocco served up an interesting moment of contradiction which left the viewers and onlookers confused.
Super Falcons star Chiamaka Nnadozie was rightfully crowned the best female goalkeeper in Africa for her exploits with Nigeria and her club, Paris FC.
However, just a few moments later on the same night, the FIFPRO Africa Best XI was announced and Nnadozie was nowhere to be found in the list voted by other African players.
Leaving many to wonder how on earth the best goalkeeper in Africa is not considered good enough to be included in the assembly of best African footballers.
Here are three likely reasons Chiamaka Nnadozie missed out on the FIFPRO Africa Best XI despite winning the Goalkeeper of the Year award.
3 reasons Chiamaka Nnadozie missed out on the CAF Women's Team of the Year
1. Both awards are voted for by different entities
The most obvious explanation would be that the voting process for both awards caused the discrepancy in making sure Nnadozie was properly represented.
The CAF Goalkeeper of the Year award like most of the other awards is voted for by a combination of national team coaches, captains and journalists from all African countries.
CAF stated that the winner was decided following votes from a panel consisting of the CAF Technical Committee, media professionals from member associations, head coaches and captains of member associations, and clubs involved in the group stages of interclub competitions.
While the Africa Best XI is voted entirely by FIFPRO Africa, that is only the players which means there are way more unregulated votes in this category and too many people could have voted for a wide number of reasons.
2. Compensation for Andile Dlamini
Another angle to this could be that South African goalkeeper Andile Dlamini was voted into the Africa Best XI as compensation for missing out on the big award.
Dlamini had a strong case to win the CAF Women's Goalkeeper of the Year award as she also had a superb year but lost the award to Nnadozie who also deserved it.
Dlamini is Banyana Banyana's current first-choice goalkeeper having played 69 games for South Africa and is also killing it at club level where she has helped Mamelodi Sundowns win the CAF Women's Champions League.
So it is possible that CAF did not want her year to go unrecognised which is why she was given the goalkeeping position in the FIFPRO Africa XI.
3. Reducing Nigeria's dominance
The FIFPRO Africa XI was dominated by South Africa which is only right as they are the reigning champions of women's football in Africa both for club and country.
The XI consisted of five South Africans and three Nigerians while Morocco's Fatima Tagnaout, Malawi's Tabitha Chawinga and Zambia's Barbara Banda make up the numbers.
If Nnadozie had made it in ahead of Dlamini in the goalkeeping position, Nigeria would have been tied on four players with South Africa, thus erasing their advantage.
This was probably an attempt to keep South Africa in the lead of the overall count especially since the Nigerians had already enjoyed a night of complete dominance with the major awards.
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