CAF AWARDS 2023: Fauzia Najjemba receives second successive nomination for Africa's Young Player of the Year

Uganda National Senior Women's Football team (Crested Cranes) star Fauzia Najjemba has received a worthy nomination in the 2023 CAF Awards for the Young Player of the Year award.

It is Najjemba's second nomination in a row, after her first in 2022.

To win the award, the 20-year-old will have to fend off opposition from the Ghana duo of Comfort Yeboah and Mary Amponsah as well as the Nigerian trio of Deborah Abiodun, Esther Ajakaye and Oluwatosin Demehin.

Najjemba will also vie with Morocco's Nesryne El Chad, Senegal's Hapsatou Diallo, South African Thubelihle Shamase and Tanzanian Winifreda Gerald.

Najjemba, who features for Russian topflight outfit Dynamo Moscow, is enjoying a 2023 to remember despite being hampered by injuries midway.

She has been a stalwart for the Crested Cranes throughout the year, helping them to the second round of the Olympics qualifiers, eventually falling to Cameroon by a 3-2 aggregate defeat.

In the 2024 Olympics qualification campaign, Najjemba managed two assists in three games.

Meanwhile, the versatile attacker scored once and assisted another as Uganda fell to Algeria by a 3-2 aggregate in the Women's Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

She then scored one and managed an assist as Uganda beat Tanzania 3-1 in a July international friendly played at the MTN Omondi Stadium, Lugogo.

For Dynamo Moscow, Najjemba has so far netted seven goals and assisted a further four in eight Russian Supreme Division games, leaving the team fifth in the Championship group.

She also has one goal in as many games played in the Russian Cup this year.

It should be noted that Najjemba only joined Dynamo Moscow earlier this year from Kazakhstan outfit Shymkent Women.