Ellis, Kgatlana win big at Caf awards

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Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis was named the Caf Women’s Coach of the Year for 2018, while Thembi Kgatlana enjoyed a historic night as she picked up the Women’s Player of the Year and Caf Goal of the Year at the ceremony on Tuesday night.

Banyana enjoyed a historic 2018 as Ellis guided them to all the way to the final of the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations final, which saw them book a place in the Fifa Women’s World Cup for the very first time, with the tournament set to take place in France this year.

Ellis was rewarded for this achievement with the big award for coaches in women’s football, beating out competition from Nigeria’s Thomas Dennerby, who guided his side to side at the AWCON, and Cameroon’s Joseph Brian Ndoko for the accolade.

Kgatlana on the other hand was one of the biggest winners of the night as she picked up two awards.

Her first award was for the Caf goal of the year. She was with the gong for her stunning strike which gave South Africa a 1-0 win over Nigeria at the group stages of AWCON.

The Banyana striker was undoubtedly the star of that tournament as she ended not only as the top scorer but won the best player of the tournament and won four woman of the match awards throughout the tournament.

Banyana did, however, miss out on the National Team of the Year award, losing out to Nigeria, who they lost to in the AWCON final.

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Dean Workman