Tout Puissant Mazembe

Rainford KALABA is one of the nominated for the Best Player based in Africa. The Master will have as competitors Khama BILLIAT, Keegan DOLLY, Hlompho KEKANA and Denis ONYANGO all from Mamelodi Sundowns the African champion 2016.

Who will succeed Mbwana Aly SAMATTA? Another player from Mazembe or a player from Mamelodi Sundowns? It is on January 5, 2017 in Abuja that the votes of the fifty-four technical directors of the national associations affiliated to CAF plus the associate members, Réunion and Zanzibar, as well as an expert panel of 10 members, will be published. In the race, TPM is well represented by Rainford KALABA, a Raven against four "Brazilians" of Sundowns, last and recent winner of the C1.

With his top scorer of the C2, his goals of anthology, his technique and his ease in the game, "Master" KALABA is there to seduce the 64 voters. The small Zambian genius will have to overcome the competition of Denis ONYANGO, the goalkeeper who played a decisive role in qualifying Uganda at AFCON 2017.  31 old, he has also been imperial in his position with Sundowns this season; Hlompho Kekana, Sundowns captain, remained equal to himself throughout the African campaign. Another fact that pleads in his favor, his goal from 60 meters in the AFCON playoffs 2017 against Cameroon is retained by the FIFA for the Puskas trophy; Keegan DOLLY, the Sundowns game holder and the South African team, scored once in C1 and delivered several assists, he was from the group of Bafana Bafana who participated in the Olympics this year and his involvement in the qualification of his country 4-0 against Gambia also pleads in his favor; Khama BILLIAT, a 26-year-old of Mamelodi Sundown from Zimbabwean, three goals in C1, a player of the year in the South African championship that he won and he was able to qualify his national team to AFCON Gabon 2017. Zimbabwe will play in Group B alongside Senegal, Algeria and Tunisia.

In the other register of best player of the year, here are the five contenders: Pierre-Emerick AUBAMEYANG (Gabon / Borussia Dortmund), Riyad MAHREZ (Algeria / Leicester City), Sadio MANE (Senegal / Liverpool), Mohamed SALAH (Egypt / AS Roma) and Islam SLIMANI (Algeria / Leicester City).