Ronwen Williams makes history, nominated for Ballon d’Or Yashin Trophy

Bafana Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns star Ronwen Williams has become the first goalkeeper to be nominated for Fifa's Ballon d'Or Yashin Trophy while playing for an African club. 

Williams was the only African in the 10 nominees for Fifa's for goalkeeper of the year award, named after the great Russian shot-stopper Lev Yashin.

The statistics social media platform OptaJabu said Williams is the fourth African goalkeeper to be nominated for the awards after Cameroonian Andre Onana, Senegalese Edouard Mendy and Moroccan Yassine Bounou.

His nomination comes after hitting international headlines in February with his superb exploits helping Bafana Bafana win the bronze medal at this year's Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast. 

Williams saved four penalties in a quarterfinal shoot-out win over Cape Verde to take Bafana to their first semifinal in 24 years. 

He kept five clean sheets in seven games at the Nations Cup, four of those in succession and conceded three goals to be named goalkeeper of the tournament. 

He also helped steer Sundowns to the 2023-24 Caf Champions League semifinals. 

The other nominees were Diogo Costa (Portugal, FC Porto), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy, Paris St-Germain), Gregor Kobel (Switzerland, Borussia Dortmund), Andriy Lunin (Ukraine, Real Madrid), Mike Maignan (France, AC Milan), Giorgi Mamardashvili (George, Valencia), Emiliano Martinez (Argentina, Aston Villa), Unai Simon (Spain, Athletic Bilbao) and Yann Sommer (Switzerland, Inter Milan).

Williams is injured so not in Bafana coach Hugo Broos's squad for their 2025 Nations Cup qualifiers against Uganda at Orlando Stadium on Friday (6pm) and South Sudan in Juba on Tuesday.