For the first time in Namibian football history, two of the country’s most prized exports Peter Shalulile and Deon Hotto will be crossing swords for the coveted KickOff Footballer of the Season award.
Frequent net buster Shalulile, who plays for South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns, and the evergreen Hotto, who plies his trade for that country’s giants Orlando Pirates, are on the verge of inscribing a new page in the history books of Namibian football by becoming the country’s first two compatriots to simultaneously vie for the Kick Off Footballer of the Season award in the same season.
With another exciting season in the South African DStv Premiership set to come to an end next month, Hotto and Shalulile are leading a group of top stars that made strong performances throughout the 2021/22 season in all competitions.
Hotto, who won the same award in 2019, has this season been a vital cog in Pirates’ arsenal, and his undeniable impact has yielded positive results for the South African giants, particularly with forward Vincent Pule spending much of the season out of action, and striker Thembinkosi Lorch only playing in patches.
Hotto has enjoyed one of his most successful seasons in South African football, which started nine seasons ago at Lamontville Golden Arrows, then Bloemfontein Celtic, Bidvest Wits and now at Pirates.
Meanwhile, Shalulile remains the most proficient scorer South African football has seen in over a decade – and judging from his remarkable exploits, there is no slowing down for him anytime soon.
This is his third season in South African football with a haul of 15-plus goals in the league – first at Highlands Park and now with Sundowns – and he has kept it up with a steady flow from the start of the campaign that has since seen him breach the elusive 20-goal mark.
There was a patch of five successive games shortly after the restart, following the break for the Africa Cup of Nations finals, where the Namibian did not find the net, setting off a round of crisis reports about a “goal drought”. However, Shalulile was quickly back to his scoring ways and remains well on course to break legendary Zambian striker Collins Mbesuma’s 17-year-old record of 25 goals in a single season.
The two Namibians are competing with Rivaldo Coetzee (Mamelodi Sundowns), Andile Jali (Mamelodi Sundowns), Victor Letsoalo (Royal AM), Hugo Marques (Cape Town City), Khuliso Mudau (Mamelodi Sundowns) and Bandile Shandu (Orlando Pirates) for this year’s Kick Off Footballer of the Season award.
The first and only other Namibian who won this award is Brave Warriors great Mohammed Ouseb in 1998.
- ohembapu@nepc.com.na