ZIMBABWE veteran coach Sunday Chidzambga and retired top referee Felix Tangawarima were on Thursday honoured with lifetime achievement awards at the maiden 2023 Cosafa Awards, held at the Sandton Convention Centre in South Africa.
A Cosafa communique on the awards reads: “Sunday Chidzambga for his extraordinary success in the COSAFA Cup, where he has a record four titles and never lost a match outright….Felix Tangawarima has done much to develop match officials on the African continent in the last few decades, but especially Southern Africa, and was recognised with a Lifetime Achievement for services to refereeing.”
Cosafa executive director Sue Destombes was excited with the inaugural awards which saw several football stakeholders in the region being recognised for their contribution in football in Cosafa.
Amongst the guests at the awards was Zambian football legend Kalushwa Bwalya.
“These awards have been a long time coming as we felt there is the need to celebrate our successes as a region and show the togetherness and spirit of Ubuntu that we have among all our COSAFA nations. We have enormous talent on and off the pitch and while we do acknowledge these winners for their outstanding contributions, we also recognise that there is much more for us to do to unlock the full potential we possess in Southern Africa.”
Cosafa Award winners
Men’s Player of the Year: Percy Tau (South Africa)
Women’s Player of the Year: Racheal Kundananji (Zambia)
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Men’s Coach of the Year: Rulani Mokwena (Mamelodi Sundowns)
Women’s Coach of the Year: Dr Desiree Ellis (South Africa)
Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year: Ronwen Williams (Mamelodi Sundowns & South Africa)
Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year: Andile Dlamini (Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies & South Africa)
Men’s most promising player: Thapelo Maseko (Mamelodi Sundowns & South Africa)
Women’s most promising player Leticia Chinyamula (Ascent Academy & Malawi)
Cosafa best male referee Jerson Dos Santos (Angola)
Cosafa best female referee Diana Chikotesha (Zambia)
Cosafa most promising referee Tsiaro Randriambololoma (Madagascar)
Cosafa referee legend Victor Gomes (South Africa)
Lifetime achievement for services as a player: Janine van Wyk
Lifetime achievement in services: to refereeing Felix Tangawarima
Lifetime achievement in services: to women’s football Fran Hilton-Smith
Lifetime achievement in services: to coaching Sunday Chidzambwa
Lifetime achievement in services: to the media Mark Gleeson
