The national football team, the Uganda Cranes has made the final three shortlist for Men’s national team of the year 2018 at the upcoming CAF awards slated for 8th January 2018 in Senegalese capital Dakar.
Uganda will compete with Madagascar and Mauritania for the award.
Sebastien Desabre’s team is one of the teams that confirmed qualification for the AFCON 2019 finals that will take place in a yet to be named country.
Uganda qualified for the AFCON finals with a game to spare after edging Cape Verde 1-0 at the Mandela National thanks to a 78th minute header from Patrick Kaddu.
The Cranes is also the only team yet to concede a goal in the qualifiers (7 GOALS SCORED) that return next year with Uganda travelling to Dar-es Salaam to face Tanzania.
Uganda tops group L with 13 points in five games while Tanzania and Cape Verde are level on five, with Lesotho bottom with four points.
The Cranes then coached by Micho Sredejovic won the 2016 Men’s team of the year award after qualifying for the 2017 finals in Gabon, the same year goalkeeper Denis Onyango was named CAF’s African footballer of the year based in Africa.
Madagscar meanwhile also qualified for Africa’s biggest football show piece in October for the first time their history after beating Equatorial Guinea 1-0 in Malabo in their group A tie.
The Barae are currently second in the group topped by West African giants Senegal who are three points clear.
In an almost similar fairy-tale to Madagascar, Mauritania also qualified for next year’s finals for the first time in the country’s history having come from behind to beat Botswana 2-1 in to go top of group I with 12 points three ahead of Angola and five ahead of the third placed Burkina Faso.
Uganda cranes goalkeeper Denis Onyango who is the only shotstopper with clean sheets through out the campaign also made the final ten shortlist for Male Footballer of the year at next month’s awards ceremony.
Perhaps this is as far as it can get for the 2016 CAF Best footballer based in Africa given the competition he faces.
Uganda’s number one will have the sixth best player in the world according to the Ballond’or Mohamemd Salah of Liverpool and Egypt to contend with, Arsenal’s duo of Alex Iwobi and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang among other players.
THE FULL FINAL SHORTLIST IN AL CATEGORIES
African Player of the Year
- Alex Iwobi (Nigeria & Arsenal)
- Andre Onana (Cameroon & Ajax)
- Anis Badri (Tunisia & Esperance)
- Denis Onyango (Uganda & Mamelodi Sundowns)
- Mehdi Benatia (Morocco & Juventus)
- Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool)
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon & Arsenal)
- Riyad Mahrez (Algeria & Manchester City)
- Sadio Mane (Senegal & Liverpool)
- Walid Soliman (Egypt & Ahly)
Women’s Player of the Year
- Abdulai Mukarama (Ghana & Northern Ladies)
- Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria & Dilian Quanjian)
- Bassira Toure (Mali & AS Mande)
- Chrestinah Thembi Kgatlana (South Africa & Houston Dash)
- Elizabeth Addo (Ghana & Seattle Reign)
- Francisca Ordega (Nigeria & Washington Spirit)
- Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene (Cameroon & CSKA Moskow)
- Janine Van Wyk (South Africa & Houston Dash)
- Onome Ebi (Nigeria & Hekan Huisanhang)
- Raissa Feudjio (Cameroon & Aland United)
- Tabitha Chawinga (Malawi & Jiangsu Suning)
Youth Player of the Year
- Achraf Hakimi (Morocco & Borussia Dortmunmd)
- Franck Kessie (Cote d’Ivoire & AC Milan)
- Wilfred Ndidi (Nigeria & Leicester City)
Men’s Coach of the Year
- Aliou Cisse (Senegal)
- Herve Renard (Morocco)
- Moine Chaabani (Esperance)
Women’s Coach of the Year
- Desiree Ellis (South Africa)
- Joseph Brian Ndoko (Cameroon)
- Thomas Dennerby (Nigeria)
Men’s National Team of the Year
- Madagascar
- Mauritania
- Uganda
*Women’s National Team of the Year
- Cameroon
- Nigeria
- South Africa
