Williams in line for world stardom after Ballon d’Or nomination

HERMAN GIBBS

Ronwen Williams has written his name into the annals of African football history by becoming the first player from a club on the Mother Continent to be nominated for the prestigious Ballon d’Or award.

The Ballon d’Or celebrates world football’s crème de la crème and is widely regarded as football’s most distinguished individual award. Year after year, it honoured global icons like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who collectively have won the prize 13 times.

Ronaldo holds the Ballon d’Or record for a total of 18 nominations.

49 - Of the 50 Yashin Trophy nominations since the award's 2019 inception, 49 have been playing for European clubs, with Ronwen Williams the first non-European-based player to be nominated. Exception. pic.twitter.com/6dv6LimfHB

— OptaJabu (@OptaJabu) September 5, 2024

This year, however, the 32-year-old Bafana Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper won’t be dwelling in the shadows of these two fan favourites because, for the first time in two decades, they don’t feature on the list of nominees.

In previous years, three other African goalkeepers were nominated for the Ballon d’Or award, but they played for clubs in Europe. They are Andre Onana (Cameroon), French-born Edouard Mendy (Senegal and Guinea-Bissau dual national), and Canadian-born Yassine Bounou (Morocco).

The only other time a South African goalkeeper was strongly fancied for an award on the global stage was in 2017, when Oscarine Masuluke was nominated in the final three for Fifa’s Puskas Award. The former Baroka FC shot-stopper was strangely nominated for scoring a goal rather than brilliant goalkeeping.

Masuluke scored a stunning overhead bicycle kick in the final minute against Orlando Pirates to salvage a 1-1 draw for his side.

He had moved up to the opposition’s penalty area for a corner kick, and when the ball reached him (unmarked at the time), he launched himself into the air with his back to the goal, to score spectacularly.

Congratulations to our shot-stopper and Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams on being nominated for the 2024 Yachine Trophy! 👆🇿🇦

The Yellow Nation salutes you @ronwen30! 🙌#Sundowns https://t.co/l6uN0ajPLe

— Mamelodi Sundowns FC (@Masandawana) September 4, 2024

Williams would have captured the imagination of fans worldwide after he saved four penalties to help South Africa reach the semi-finals of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations following a 0-0 draw against Cape Verde. Earlier in the match, he made a spectacular late save to tip Gilson Benchimol’s first-time strike against the woodwork and ensure the gruelling quarter-final entered extra time.

Williams is nominated alongside nine of the world’s top goalkeepers, including Diogo Costa (FC Porto), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain), Gregor Kobel (Borussia Dortmund), Andriy Lunin (Real Madrid), Mike Maignan (AC Milan), Giorgi Mamardashvili (Valencia), Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), Unai Simón (Athletic Bilbao) and Yann Sommer (Inter Milan).

The winning goalkeeper will receive the Yachine Trophy, named after legendary Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin. Since the award was first introduced in 2019, the winners were Alisson Becker (2019), Donnarumma (2021), Thibaut Courtois (2022), and Emiliano Martinez (2023).

The 2024 Ballon d’Or ceremony will take place in late October in France.

Meanwhile, Williams will not be playing for Bafana Bafana in their next two Afcon qualifiers because he is recovering from surgery.

News from Mamelodi Sundowns is that Williams has resumed training and will be ready for the CAF Champions League match against Mbabane Swallows (eSwatini) on Saturday, September 14, at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville, Pretoria.