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Which South African football player could've won CAF Player of the Year?

As we all know, Apartheid dealt a big blow to the recognition of South African football globally, with both the Olympics & FIFA banning Apartheid South Africa from participating in international football from 1961 to 1992. And, unfortunately, ConIFA did not exist when South Africa was under Apartheid so individual South African tribes in the Bantustans or other homogenous tribal territories couldn't participate in international football. 

I consider the 1970s the "prime" of South African football because this is where legends like Jomo Sono, Abednigo Ngcobo, Cedric Xulu & Patrick Ntsoelengoe were in their prime. The likes of Zane Moosa & Fani Madida came later but didn't match the hype of the 70s legends in any case. 


While South Africa was banned from participating in AFCON, the World Cup & the Olympics, the South African Black XI did beat Argentina 5-0 in an invitational match which was testament to the level of talent that was in that team. The South African Black XI played two games from my knowledge, they lost to England in one & won against Argentina. The South African Black XI had the likes of Patson "Sparks" Banda, Jomo Sono, Abednigo Ngcobo, Patrick Ntsoelengoe & captain, Cedric "Sugar Ray" Xulu. Again, the South Black XI didn't compete in any official international tournament for us to properly gauge how good they could've been. 

African Footballer of the Year rankings for 1979 & 1980.

Abednigo Ngcobo won South Africa Footballer of the Year in 1979, while Thomas N'kono won African Footballer of the Year in 1979 with Adolf Armah coming second to N'kono. By the season Abednigo Ngcobo had in 1979, which included fastest goal in South African football history, fastest hattrick in South African football history & goalscorer of the season - why wouldn't Abednigo Ngcobo have won 1979 African Footballer of the Year despite not being able to participate in AFCON due to international sanctions on Apartheid? Ngcobo went on to play for Peñarol in Uruguay where he had a scoring ratio of over a goal a game in that stint. 



Jomo Sono won South African Footballer of the Year in 1980 after returning from the USA. He was chief playmaker of the Orlando Pirates team that won the 1980 Mainstay Cup (now Nedbank Cup). The only other South African footballer who could've rivaled Sono for South African Footballer of the Year in 1980 was Ace Ntsolengoe who had his best seasons for Minnesota Kicks in 1980 & 1982. Jean Manga-Onguéné won 1980's African Footballer of the Year. 


Gathering all the evidence, I believe that in 1979 a South African footballer (Abednigo Ngcobo) could've won African Footballer of the Year & in 1980 there could've been a South African Footballer in the Top 10 rankings of African Footballer of the Year (Jomo Sono or Patrick "Ace" Ntsolengoe). 

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