shloboe boe
Fungai Muderere
FINALLY, the day is here.
The Castle Lager Premier Soccer League (PSL) is next Friday night set to crown the 2024 Soccer Stars of the Year with Simba Bhora’s Walter Musona and Highlanders’ Lynoth Chikuhwa favourites for the accolade.
The 11 players who illuminated the scene for the recently ended season were selected by a panel of journalists, coaches and captains last Wednesday.
The panellists also voted for the coach of the year, rookie of the year and goalkeeper of the year who will all be announced at the banquet to be held at a Harare hotel.
Simba Bhora, in their second dance in the country’s elite football league, who won the championship, has the highest number on the calendar with five players coming from the Shamva-based outfit.
Chikuhwa has expressed happiness on being selected to be among the 2024 local football’s best eleven players after a stellar season that also saw him grab the Golden Boot Award.
Chikuhwa finished the 2024 season with 17 goals under his belt.
With a technical team that includes ex-Warriors gunslinger Sawu and Ncube, Bosso also managed to transform striker Brighton “MaNinja” Ncube into a formidable forward after spending seasons at Chicken Inn as a fringe player.
In a poll conducted on Chronicle WhatsApp Channel when the list of the 11 best players of the 2024 season was released, Chikuhwa received 88 percent of the vote.
Coming in second was Yadah FC forward Khama Billiat, who polled five percent of the vote and ended the season with 13 goals.
The voting for the elite 11 was done virtually, saw champions Simba Bhora dominated the list with five players out of eleven.
The virtual voting saw champions Simba Bhora dominating the list, with five players making the cut. These players are Musona, Blessing Moyo, Webster Tafa, Tymon Machope, and Isheanesu Mauchi.
Last year, the 11 soccer stars voted for by the selection panel included Qadr Amini, Takunda Benhura, Nelson Chadya (all Ngezi Platinum Stars), Donald Mudadi, Tanaka Shandirwa (Dynamos), Andrew Mbeba, Ariel Sibanda (Highlanders), Tino Benza (Herentals), Fortune Binzi (Manica Diamonds) and Michael Charamba (Chicken Inn).
While Ngezi Platinum Stars coach Takesure Chiragwi, won the league title in his first full season in charge of the platinum miners, this time around Simba Bhora mentor Tonderai Ndiraya is the favourite to win the gaffer of the year gong due to his outstanding tactics, the soccer star accolade is too close to call.
The same applies to the Goalkeeper of the Year as well as the Most Promising accolades with Chicken Inn goalkeeper Donovan Bernard and Kingsley Mureremba tipped to grab the awards respectively.
Bernard has 20 clean sheets this season, in a team that looked so promising at the beginning of the season because of the array of talent in their ranks.
Benard, with his imposing stature, communication skills, sense of great positioning, brilliance on crosses and ball distribution was an “A” factor throughout the season for Chicken Inn who yet again underachieved despite having one of the best squads in terms of quality.
Billiat arrived from South Africa down on morale after a disappointing stint at Kaizer Chiefs and set the stage alight for Yadah where he was the standout player all season.
He showed that class is permanent with brilliant touches, runs and immaculate goals that separated him from the average players around him.
He also put up some good performances for the country as Zimbabwe qualified for the 2025 Afcon finals in Morocco by being ever present in Coach Michael Nees’ starting line-up.
Below is the list of the 2024
Soccer Stars of the Year:
Blessing Sasha Moyo (Simba Bhora), Donovan Bernard (Chicken Inn), Emmanuel Jalai (Dynamos), Godknows Murwira (CAPS United), Isheanesu Mauchi (Simba Bhora), Khama Billiat (Yadah Stars), Kingsley Mureremba (CAPs United), Lynoth Chisepe Chikuhwa (Highlanders), Tymon Machope (Simba Bhora), Walter Musona (Simba Bhora), Webster Tanaka Tafa (Simba Bhora
Sinokubonga Nkala
