Johannesburg - Andile Jali, the Mamelodi Sundowns playmaker, could walk away as the most decorated player at Sunday’s PSL Awards virtual ceremony which will be televised live (7pm, SuperSport 202 and SABC).
The 32-year-old Jali is no stranger to winning awards. He won the ‘PSL Player of the Season’ gong for the 2019 /2020 season and lifted the ‘Nedbank Cup Player of the Tournament’ prize in 2011 while playing for Orlando Pirates.
Despite his stand-out performances for Sundowns, who have claimed five Premiership titles on the trot, Jali has not been able to break into the national team for the upcoming Afcon matches.
Jali, teammate Peter Shalulile and Victor Letsoalo (Royal AM) are the nominees for the PSL Footballer of the Season award. There are different voting procedures for the various categories. The premier award, the Footballer of the Season, will be decided by the votes of the 16 club coaches, who may not vote for a player from their club.
The Premiership players of the 16 clubs will vote for Players’ Player of the Season. Each has 30 votes and players may not vote for a teammate.
The Premiership Goal of the Season will be finalised after the final game of the season on Monday, between SuperSport United and Pirates at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville.
The public will first vote (on www.psl.co.za) for the Goal of the Month and once all the winners are declared, they vote for Premiership Goal of the Season which will be unveiled in June.
Friday night’s game saw Royal AM defender Thabo Matlaba score a cracker against his old team Pirates. The 34-year-old’s piledriver sparked Royal AM’s fightback from 2-0 down to earn a draw.
All the awards nominees (asterisk denotes predicted winner):
PSL Footballer of the Season: *Andile Jali, Peter Shalulile (both Sundowns), Victor Letsoalo (Royal AM)
DStv Premiership Players’ Player of the Season: *Andile Jali, Peter Shalulile, Themba Zwane (all Sundowns)
DStv Premiership Coach of the Season: John Maduka (Royal AM), Rulani Mokwena/Manqoba Mngqithi (Sundowns), *Eric Tinkler (CT City)
DStv Premiership Goalkeeper of the Season: *Hugo Marques (CT City), Toaster Nsabata (Sekhukhune), Veli Mothwa (AmaZulu)
DStv Premiership Defender of the Season: Grant Kekana (Sundowns), *Lyle Lakay (Sundowns), Thami Mkhize (CT City) DStv Premiership Midfielder of the Season: Andile Jali (Sundowns), Mduduzi Mdantsane (CT City), *Themba Zwane (Sundowns)
DStv Premiership Young Player of the Season: *Athenkosi Mcaba (Stellenbosch), Kwame Peprah (Pirates), Luke Fleurs (SuperSport) MTN8 Last Man Standing: Andile Jali, *Surprise Ralani, Peter Shalulile (all Sundowns)
Nedbank Cup Player of the Tournament: Andile Jali (Sundowns), Aubrey Modiba (Sundowns), King Ndlovu (Gallants) Nedbank Cup Most Promising Player of the Season: Keagan Allan (AmaTuks), Luvuyo Phewa (AmaTuks), *Mfundo Thikazi (Royal AM)
DStv Diski Challenge Rewired Player of the Season: Mduduzi Shabalala (Chiefs), *Boitumelo Radiopane (Pirates).
IOL Sport