Shouts of robbery and injustice were the underlying theme in the aftermath of the 2024 Ballon d’Or Ceremony.
Large parts of the footballing community felt that Real Madrid and Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior should have won the men’s top prize this year after Spanish midfielder Rodri walked away with the award. Both players enjoyed successful campaigns in 2023/24 – both winning their respective leagues and continental titles for their respective clubs.
While arguments can be made for both Rodri and Vini Jr. for this year’s Ballon d’Or there were cries of injustice surrounding the Yashin trophy which is awarded to the best goalkeeper.
Large sections of the South Africa football fraternity felt that Bafana Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns shot-stopper Ronwen Williams should have walked away with the Yashin Trophy. The South African skipper played a pivotal role in his country’s third place finish at the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year, while steering Sundowns to a seventh straight league title.
Williams grabbed the attention of the footballing world during this year’s AFCON tournament in the Ivory Coast – saving four Cape Verde penalties in the shootout that saw them reach the semi-finals for the first time in 24 years.
The 32-year-old was in imperious form throughout the tournament where he kept five clean sheets in seven matches – four of those coming in successive games. He also became the first goalkeeper in the competition’s history to save four out of five penalties in a shootout and picked up the Golden Glove at the conclusion of the tournament.
Throughout the campaign, he only conceded three goals while his club contributions helped Masandawana to a semi-final run in the CAF Champions League and another league title with a record haul of 73 points. Williams’ presence between the sticks for Sundowns saw them conceding just 11 goals in 30 matches while suffering defeat just nce last season, losing out to Cape Town City FC on the final day.
The Gqeberha-born shot-stopper was honoured as the PSL’s Footballer of the Season and was also named as the Premiership’s Goalkeeper of the Season. Williams carried that momentum and form into the new season, becoming somewhat of a phenom between the posts for opposing strikers – leading many to believe that he was the favourite for the Yashin Trophy. Williams admitted that being nominated for such a prestigious honour was something he couldn’t believe.
I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know if I was excited, happy or crying. It was so surreal… I try not to think about it because it gets me emotional.
Instead, he was ranked ninth in the top ten, losing out to Argentina and Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez, who won the award for the second year running.
At club level, Martinez helped Aston Villa to record their highest Premier League finish in 31 years with the Midlands club securing a spot in this season’s UEFA Champions League. Martinez followed up his stellar season with Villa by helping Argentina retain the Copa America in July where he was named goalkeeper of the tournament after conceding a solitary goal in La Albiceleste’s six matches.
The uproar from South African fans came from the fact that there was a misconception that the final voting would be decided by a public vote. The confusion came from a poll that was being run by French magazine L’Equipe in the build-up to the awards ceremony – Williams led those votes however it wasn’t the official voting platform.
The award was decided by a panel of journalists from FIFA’s top 100-ranked nations for men’s football with the panel voting for their top five players via a points system.
Williams himself was proud of his nomination and overall ranking in the end finishing behind Unai Simon, Andriy Lunin, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Mike Maignan, Yann Sommer, Giorgi Mamardashvili and Diogo Costa. The Bafana skipper called it “an honour and a privilege to be recognized amongst the greats”.
South Africa’s number one followed in the footsteps of Cameroon’s Andre Onana, Senegal’s Edouard Mendy and Morocco’s Yassine Bounou with his nomination but made history by becoming the first goalkeeper to be nominated while playing for an African club – which is a statement in its own right.
It’s a massive achievement – I still get goosebumps. Hopefully this will open the doors for more South Africans and Africans to get the recognition they deserve.
Williams recently received nominations for the upcoming CAF Awards in December that could see him being named African Player of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year and Interclub Player of the year. The CAF Awards are scheduled to take place on 6 December in Marrakech, Morocco.
