Uganda Cranes and Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper Denis Onyango was the biggest of the night at the 2016 Glo-CAF Awards Gala bagging the CAF Player of the Year Based in Africa, named part of both the best club and national team on the continent.
The Cranes shot-stopper who is ranked 10th in the world by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics beat fellow Mamelodi Sundowns team-mate Khama Billiat and TP Mazembe’s Rainford Kalaba to the prestigious award during the fabulous Gala on Thursday, 5 January 2017 at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, Nigeria.
Onyango and Billiat are Africa Champions League gold winners while Kalaba is a CAF Confederations Cup winner.
In a stellar 2016, Onyango won the ABSA Premiership, the CAF Champions League and No Ugandan player had ever won all those accolades since their inception.
At country level, he guided the Cranes to Afcon 2017 ending a 39-year old jinx and has established a spirited campaign in the Fifa 2018 World Cup qualifiers where Uganda sits second in Group E with four points behind table leaders Egypt who have six.
Riyad Mahrez of Leicester City and Algeria becomes the first to win BBC African Footballer of the Year and CAF African Footballer of the Year at the same time.
Africa’s Finest XI #GloCAFAwards2016 pic.twitter.com/bxH4R6b7Aq
— CAF (@CAF_Online) January 5, 2017
Riyad Mahrez is the African Player of the Year, collecting 361 of the votes #GloCAFAwards2016 pic.twitter.com/12s7BMsGRc
— CAF (@CAF_Online) January 5, 2017
Denis Onyango of The Cranes is voted African Player of the Year (Based in Africa) with 252 votes pic.twitter.com/wEgZ4ewelt
— CAF (@CAF_Online) January 5, 2017
