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Tadious Manyepo-Zimpapers Sports Hub
SIMBA Bhora captain Walter Musona will make history by becoming the first player to win the Soccer Star of the Year accolade twice with different teams if he lays his hands on the piece tonight.
The wait is finally over, with the 53rd man in the history of the prestigious individual accolade set to be crowned in Harare.
Coach, goalkeeper, rookie, referee, and fans’ choice of the year winners will also be honoured at the same banquet.
It is Musona, though, who is the front-runner to win the ultimate individual reward that has immortalised many a star, including the late legendary Dynamos mainstay George Shaya, who is this accolade’s standard bearer, having won it five times.
As well as scoring 10 goals, Musona recorded 13 assists, and he almost always popped up when the Shamva team, as they did on a number of occasions, looked lost.
He was, quite significantly, the most influential figure for their championship heroics, and minus him, perhaps the Tonderai Ndiraya boys couldn’t have nailed down the title.
Having also dragged FC Platinum to their fourth-time glory in 2022 that saw him picking the Soccer Star of the Year prize, Musona will enter his own league if he gets the title tonight.
But that unique record faces unique challenges as well.
While he is the favourite to pick the gong after leading Simba Bhora to the podium in only their second season in the top flight, Musona can still lose it to two other players who were popular with voters during the selection exactly nine days ago.
Golden Boot winner Lynoth Chikuhwa of Highlanders, who netted a respectable 17 goals to carry Bosso to a sixth-place finish, is strongly tipped to pip Musona to the grand accolade.
Chikuhwa was a consistent performer for the Bulawayo giants, scoring key goals, which had them, at one point during the tight race, looking like genuine challengers for the championship.
At 31, Chikuhwa had his best season in his more than a decade of professional career, and it won’t be surprising to see him taking the biscuit tonight.
Yadah’s Khama Billiat enjoyed a turnaround year, showing his quality after humbling himself by rejoining the local league at the start of the year following some frustrating periods in South Africa.
As if to prove a point, Billiat just showed he is still at the top after scoring 13 goals to help permanent relegation-matrix features Yadah survived demotion well before the last day of the season.
His trickery and juicy displays were a staple during Yadah matches, with fans often attending the minnows’ games in their numbers for obvious reasons.
Still, all three can lose it to dark horse and Musona’s Simba Bhora teammate Tymon Machope.
While he is not as charming as Musona, Machope threw huge punches of his own, scoring 11 goals and posting 12 assists to help Simba Bhora’s title cause.
By virtue of winning the league honours, Ndiraya is the odds-on favourite to bag the Coach of the Year award, although Herbert Maruwa of Telone also stands a chance after literally dragging the Gweru team from the mud when they looked like certain demotion candidates. Chicken Inn ‘keeper Donovan Bernard could also be going home with the Goalkeeper of the Year award, but there could be some competition from Ngezi Platinum Stars’ Nelson Chadya, who the selectors surprisingly omitted from the Best 11 despite his heroics during the season.
CAPS United midfielder Kingsley Mureremba could be on his way to winning the Best U20 player of the season, with his challenge most likely to come from Telone’s Allan Chapanduka and GreenFuel’s Washington Mapuwa.
This year’s selection was marred by controversy and has since been branded the “Joke of the Year,” with plans to review the composition of the selection panel underway.
The panel has some social media page administrators disguised as journalists, football club administrators with an obvious bias towards their teams, as well as volunteer football reporters who hardly attend a significant enough number of games to merit the role.
2024 Soccer Stars of the Year Finalists
Lynoth Chikuhwa, Walter Musona, Khama Billiat, Kingsley Mureremba, Godknows Murwira, Isheanesu Mauchi, Webster Tafa, Blessing Moyo, Tymon Machope, Emmanuel Jalai, Donovan Bernard
Online Reporter
