The Female national soccer team has been shortlisted among the top five countries in Africa earmarked to be crowned team of the year following a robust performance in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifiers and the COSAFA cup.

Zambia was shortlisted among the top five teams in Africa following the conclusion of the first phase of the voting.

Women’s National soccer team coach Bruce Mwape was also shortlisted among the top five women’s team trainers when a shortlist of nominees from various categories for the 28th edition of the annual CAF Awards was unveiled.

The Copper queens have bull dozed their way up the ladder in the qualifiers and made it to the last two teams across the continent to be on the blink of qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Shepolopolo however still have a huge milestone ahead of their historic qualification as they face Cameroon in the last round of the qualifiers.

The two countries will battle it out next month over two legs to decide who takes up the automatic Olympic slot for Africa with the loser having another shot through a play-off match against Chile.

Voting from a CAF Technical & Development Committee and a panel of media experts with emphasis on the nominees’ performance during the year under review, 2019 is the only criteria used to arrive at the shortlist of nominees.

Head Coaches/Technical Directors and Captains of senior national teams from CAF Member Associations, will vote in the final phase to select men’s and women’s African Player of the Year, as well as the male and female Coach of the Year.

Head Coaches and Captains of the group phase of the current season of CAF Inter-clubs competitions will select the Inter-clubs Player of the Year.

Winners for each category will be announced during the CAF Awards ceremony on Tuesday, 7 January 2020, at the Albatros Citadel Sahl Hasheesh, Hurghada, Egypt.