Bafana Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns Goalkeeper Ronwen Williams missed out on the CAF Goalkeeper of the Year award, while Amajita defender Tylon Smith missed out on the CAF Young Player of the Year honour.
Williams was among the final three nominees after helping South Africa qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, 2026 FIFA World Cup and play a major role in Sundowns run to the final of the CAF Champions League.
He was also nominated for the FIFA Best XI Goalkeeper for 2025 amongst the global elite stoppers, and for the awards hosted in Morocco this evening alongside Moroccan Munir, of RS Berkane, while Yassine Bonnou of Al Hilal walked away with the award.
Smith, previously of Stellenbosch, won the U20 Africa Cup of Nations best player award, which earned him a move to Championship side Queens Park Rangers.
He once again shone at the U20 World Cup and was nominated along with Morocco U17 captain Abdeallah Ouzzane but both missed out to Othman Maamma – who won the U20 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball after Morocco’s triumph.
Mamelodi Sundowns also walked home empty-handed, missing out on the Men’s Club of the Year to Pyramids, while Sundowns Women’s goalkeeper Andile Dlamini got beaten to the award by Nigeria’s Chiamaka Nnadozie.
Fiston Mayele was one of the big winners of the evening after being crowned Interclub Player of the Year following his breathtaking campaign in the CAF Champions League.
2025 CAF Awards in full:
- Men’s Club of the Year: Pyramids
- Women’s National Team of the Year: Nigeria
- Men’s National Team of the Year: Morocco U20
- Men’s Inter-club Player of the Year: Fiston Mayele (Pyramids)
- Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year: Chiamaka Nnadozie (Nigeria)
- Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year: Yassine Bounou (Morocco)
- Women’s Young Player of the Year: Doha El Madani (Morocco)
- Men’s Young Player of the Year: Othmane Maamma (Morocco)
- Women’s Coach of the Year: tbc.
- Men’s Coach of the Year: Bubista (Cape Verde)
- Women’s African Footballer of the Year: Ghizlane Chebbak (Morocco)
- #CAFAwards2025
- Men’s African Footballer of the Year: tbc.
- Goal of the Year: Clement Mzize
- Women’s Referee of the Year: Samirah Nabadda (Uganda)
- Women’s Assistant Referee of the Year: Tabara Mbodji (Senegal)
- Men’s Referee of the Year: Omar Abdulkadir (Somalia)
- Men’s Assistant Referee of the Year: Liban Abdoulrazack (Djibouti)
