Scorchers duo nominated forCosafa award
Scorchers stars Rose Kadzere and Leticia Chinyamula have been nominated for the Council of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) Awards.
They Ascent Academy midfielders will battle it out with Zambian Esther Banda for the women’s most promising player accolade, a category for players aged 20 or below and covers their form for both the club and country from January 1 to December 31 2023, according to a statement from Cosafa.
Cosafa says Kadzere and Chinyamula, both 17, have been nominated for their contribution in the Scorchers’ 2023 Cosafa Women’ Championships success.
“Chinyamula was a key player for Malawi as they claimed a maiden success at the 2023 Cosafa Women’s Championship when they beat Zambia 2-1 in the final.
“She scored in the epic 4-3 win over hosts South Africa and in the 3-1 success against Madagascar in the pool stages. She started the final and put up an excellent display.
“Kadzere was another player who shone as Malawi won the 2023 Cosafa Women’s Championship, despite being only 17 years of age.
“She got herself a goal in the 8-0 win over e-Swatini and was steady throughout the campaign, playing in every match, including starting in the final. She was previously leading scorer in the Cosafa.”
Ascent Academy coach Thom Mkorongo in an interview yesterday said he was confident that one of the two will win the award.
He said: “Rose is brilliant, talented and disciplined. The same with Leticia. She is also talented and skillful.”
However, the two face stiff competition in Zambian Esther Banda who got the nomination for being part of the Zambian squad at the Women’s World Cup, though she did not play and also helped Zambia to win silver medal at the Cosafa Women’s Championship.
She also scored her first international goal in the recent 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and also helped her club Green Buffaloes to qualify for the semi-finals of the Cosafa Women’s Champions League competition.
Cosafa has introduced awards to honour players, coaches and various other stakeholders in the game in the region.
The regional football governing body is expected to hold the inaugural awards ceremony on April 19 in South Africa.
Other categories for the awards are men’s player of the year, women’s player of the year, men’s goalkeeper of the year, women’s goalkeeper of the year, men’s most promising player of the year (aged 20 or under), male coach of the year, female coach of the year, male referee of the year and female referee of the year.
There will also be various lifetime achievement awards that will be handed to those who have shaped football in our region over several decades.
However, nominations for the other awards are yet to be released.
Judges picked from the 14 Cosafa member associations will decide the winners.
