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Kane had a stunning season with Bayern Munich and England, scoring 73 goals for club and country in 65 matches and helped secure a treble of Bundesliga, German Cup, and German Super Cup as well as leading his nation to the World Cup semi-finals.

Haaland netted 58 goals in 64 games for Manchester City and Norway, while eight-times Ballon d’Or winner Messi had 75 goal contributions in 49 matches for Inter Miami and Argentina, who he helped to reached the World Cup final.

Also among those on the shortlist are Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Lamine Yamal but not five-times winner Cristiano Ronaldo despite the Portugal forward lifting the Saudi Pro League title with Al-Nassr.

The women’s shortlist includes Poland’s Barcelona quadruple-winner Ewa Pajor, Alexia Putellas, who featured for Barca and Spain but has now joined London City Lionesses, and Manchester City’s prolific Jamaica striker Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw.

Cape Verde’s Vozinha was nominated for the Yashin Trophy awarded to the best goalkeeper, with his standout World Cup performances putting him on the 10-man shortlist after he helped his country advance from the tournament’s group stage.

He will compete against Spain’s World Cup-winner Unai Simon and Argentina’s Emi Martinez plus fellow African nominees Yassine Bounou and Edouard Mendy.

The 70th edition of the Ballon d’Or will be staged in London for the first time at a ceremony on October 26 as a tribute to Stanley Matthews, who won the first Ballon d’Or.

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Zungu has revealed that a fraud charge has been laid in the Northern Cape against prominent SAFA NEC members and that they aren’t taking it lightly and are consulting their legal representatives.

But the 59-year-old businessman remains confident he’ll win the elections and says the time for dirty tricks is over.

All eyes will be on the presidential election, with incumbent Danny Jordaan and Zungu the only two candidates.

Among those invited to attend the four-yearly event are World Football’s governing body, FIFA, CAF, COSAFA, SASCOC and Sports Minister Gayton Mckenzie.

The chairman of the portfolio committee on Sports, Arts and Culture has also been invited to observe.

Under normal circumstances, with everyone eligible to vote, a candidate will need to garner at least 133 votes to be elected. The votes are made up of the 52 regions that have four votes each, the Premier Soccer League with six votes, associate members who have 10 votes and NEC members with 41 votes. However, four NEC members are currently expelled.

And reports of attempts to destabilize regions and disqualify those who have declared their support for Zungu have now surfaced ahead of the elective congress.

“There’s an attempt at destabilizing regions, but it will not succeed. There’s an attempt at committing electoral fraud. You may be aware that a charge was laid in the Northern Cape against the SAFA President and SAFA CEO,” says Zungu.

Among the NEC members who have been expelled and disqualified from voting are Gladwin White, Monde Montshiwa, Lebogang Riet and Bhuda Mathathe.

“We are seething with anger with what has been done to regions. Our legends have been disqualified in the forthcoming elections, and we believe unjustly so. Some regions, which are clearly forcefully pushing for change, there was an attempt to change leadership, which didn’t succeed,” Zungu explains.

Zungu says he and his team aren’t taking these reports lightly and are in consultations with their legal representatives.

“As I am talking, there are consultations with legal people to see how to take that matter forward, and trust me, we take it very seriously. Notwithstanding, we will win these elections.”

Parliamentary briefings have revealed that SAFA’s current liabilities heavily outweigh its assets, leaving the organisation on the brink of bankruptcy.

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Defending champion Sabalenka had not dropped a set before facing the Czech sixth seed, who fired 18 aces and saved seven of nine break points but faltered when leading by a break in the final set.

Sabalenka next plays the winner of an all-American clash between Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro.

The Belarusian broke in the second game, whipping a forehand into the corner that Noskova did not even attempt to chase down, but the Czech broke back with a pair of powerful groundstrokes from the baseline in the ninth.

Sabalenka sprinted through the opening set tiebreak before a double fault gave Noskova a 4-2 lead in the second set. She screamed in frustration when a pair of double faults midway through the third helped her opponent secure another break.

Sabalenka recovered to level in the eighth game, however, and was in her element in the decisive tiebreak, where she clinched it with an ace.

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Amrabat would not reveal his reasons for the decision but had limited game time at the recent World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, where he started one of his side’s six games as they lost to France in the quarter-finals.

The emergence of Manchester City midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi has limited his game time.

“This has been a very difficult decision, but I do not feel able to continue representing the national team under the current head coach,” Amrabat said in an Instagram post.

“I am therefore making myself unavailable for selection while he remains in charge. Out of respect for the national team and everyone involved, I prefer to keep the reasons behind this decision private. I want to be clear: I am not retiring from international football, and I am not closing the door on representing Morocco again.”

Dutch-born Amrabat, who recently signed for Ajax Amsterdam, was a key member of the Morocco side that reached the 2022 World Cup semi-finals under former coach Walid Regragui, who Ouahbi replaced in March this year.

The 30-year-old said he would remain the team’s “biggest fan” as they begin their journey to the Cup of Nations which will be hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania next June and July.

Morocco host Gabon in their first Group A qualifier on September 25, before a trip to neutral South Africa to face Lesotho in Bloemfontein four days later.

(Reporting by Nick SaidEditing by Toby Davis)

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