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Sports Reporter—
HIGH-FLYING forward Khama Billiat is the 2016 Zimbabwe Footballer of the Year according to a poll conducted among members of The Herald’s Sports Desk.

Billiat was honoured as the 2016 Zimbabwe Footballer of the Year on the back of his inspired performances for the Warriors and his South African club Mamelodi Sundowns.

The 26-year-old forward scored three goals, and provided a host of assists, as Sundowns won their maiden CAF Champions League title this year and will tomorrow play their first match at the FIFA Club World Cup.

He also scored three goals, and provided many assists, as the Warriors ended 10 years of waiting for a place at the Nations Cup finals.

“There were a number of our players who shone brightly during the year, including Costa Nhamoinesu, whose arrival in the Warriors’ fold provided strength in defence and the consistent Knowledge Musona who, once again, proved he was a player the nation could rely on and has become the leader of our attack,” The Herald’s Senior Sports Editor, Robson Sharuko, said.

“But Billiat was the outstanding individual and even though he plays in a league that is considered inferior to the one that Costa and Musona play in, that shouldn’t mask his qualities and he was a big hit this year with the Warriors and Sundowns relying on his magic for inspiration.

“When he was rested, for the first half of our game against Swaziland, the Warriors clearly missed something in their attack and the game was goalless at the National Sports Stadium.

“But when he was thrown into the fray in the second half, it was a different ball game and he provided the assist for Costa’s goal and also scored while causing havoc for the Swazi defence.

“Without him in Guinea, we lost that game 0-1, our only loss of the campaign and that shows his value to the team.

“On Sunday, he will make history as the first Zimbabwean player to play at the FIFA Club World Cup and he has already swept all the awards in South Africa.”

The Herald decided to choose the Player of the Year, encompassing both the home-based and foreign-based Zimbabwe stars, as is the case in most other countries.

The domestic Premiership only rewards players plying their trade in the local top-flight league.

“These awards are different from the Soccer Stars of the Year which reward excellence in the domestic Premiership,” Sharuko said.

“This is about the best Zimbabwean footballer in a given year, which is common too in most other countries, and we accord a lot of respect to the Soccer Stars of the Year because we acknowledge the local players, ordinarily, should also be rewarded and they are unlikely, most of the time, to beat their foreign-based counterparts if we lump them into one basket.”

Nhamoinesu, who has been doing well in the UEFA Europa League, came second in the poll while Musona was third.

CAPS United gaffer Lloyd Chitembwe pipped his Warriors counterpart for the Coach of the Year award with the journalists on The Herald Sports Desk saying he put in a lot, in the 30 games that he was in charge of the Green Machine campaign, to deserve recognition.

“There were challenges here and there for CAPS United and it was because of Lloyd that they retained a sense of stability and remain focused on winning the championship, which they did, and we believe he deserves to be rewarded,” said The Herald Sports Editor Collin Matiza.

“He kept on pushing and pushing and inspired the right spirit in the side and they were rightly rewarded for their grand efforts with the league title.”

The journalists on this newspaper also selected the Team of the Year and gave Warriors’ number one goalminder, Tatenda Mukuruva, the nod ahead of George Chigova, Petros Mhari and Edmore Sibanda.

“Tatenda had 15 clean sheets for Dynamos and he combined that with playing for the Warriors, where he was outstanding, and also for the Young Warriors and he deserves to be honoured,” The Herald Deputy Sports Editor, Petros Kausiyo, said.

“Some people have been saying Tatenda had a poor season, which isn’t true, because one has to take into account he was playing for a Dynamos team that had a miserable season and he still did well and, crucially, he did well for the Warriors.

“Mhari had a good season but FC Platinum didn’t cross the line, in the championship race, and his big blunder, on the big occasion of the Chibuku Super Cup final, helped Ngezi Platinum to win that game.

“We haven’t seen him being tested in the Warriors and that is a huge test.”

The paper’s journalists also gave Nyasha Mushekwi the nod, for one of the striker’s roles, ahead of Tendai Ndoro.

“Ndoro has been scoring for fun in Super Diski and that is commendable but we felt that Nyasha did more – he finished as the second best gal-scorer for his club in China’s second-tier, and given the quality of players going there, it’s no mean achievement,” the journalists said.

“He also did well for the Warriors.”

The newspapers’ journalists also chose Ronald Pfumbidzai, for the leftback role, instead of Onismor Bhasera and gave Division One side Tenax the Fair Play of the Year award.

“When you consider what these guys did, without anything to play for but upholding the true spirit of the game, in their final league match against Buffaloes, which ended in a draw, then they deserve an award,” the newspaper’s journalists said.

“Given that they are from Mutare, and Buffaloes – who were fighting for promotion – are also from Mutare, some people had said Tenax would not give it their all because the city wanted a team in the Premiership but they did incredibly well to hold out to a draw and Yadah Stars profited from that and won the championship.”