POLL | Was Ronwen Williams hard done by in the Yashin Trophy ...

Ronwen Williams did the country proud with his nomination for the Yashin Trophy, placing him in the world’s 10 best goalkeepers for 2023-2024, but many South Africans were disappointed by the Bafana Bafana captain’s ninth placing and many felt he could have won the award.

The winner, named in the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony in Paris on Monday night, was Argentina and Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

Williams placed ninth in the final voting, which, contrary to some reports and public misconception, was not decided by a public vote.

Martinez became the first goalkeeper to win the Yashin Trophy back-to-back, his victory in 2022-2023 built on his excellent performance helping Argentina win the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

In 2023-2024 he helped Villa to a fourth-place finish in the EPL, qualifying for Champions League football. Martinez was goalkeeper of the tournament at the 2024 Copa America in June and July, helping Argentina to the title, conceding one goal in their six matches.

Williams made history in September as the first goalkeeper to be nominated for the award while playing for an African club. He was the only African in the 10 nominees.

The Bafana captain saved four penalties in a quarterfinal shoot-out win over Cape Verde at this year's Nations Cup to take Bafana to their first semifinal in 24 years. He kept five clean sheets in seven games at the Nations Cup, four of those in succession, and conceded three goals as South Africa won the bronze medal. Williams also helped steer Sundowns to the 2023-2024 Caf Champions League semifinals and seventh Premiership title in succession with a record 72 points.

The Ballon d’Or is presented by magazine France Football since 1956 to its best footballer of the northern hemisphere season. It is normally presented in October. It should not be confused with Fifa’s Best Award, which is normally presented at the end of a calendar year and covers that period.

The Fifa Ballon d’Or was presented in a five-year period where Fifa and France Football merged their awards from 2010 to 2015. There was some confusion in South Africa after Williams’ nomination, with some reports stating the award was decided by public voting. The public were encouraged to vote for Williams but directed to a poll being taken by another famous French sporting magazine, L'Equipe.

France Football is part of the media group that owns L'Equipe. The poll was not an official voting platform. A panel of journalists from the top 100 Fifa-ranked nations for men’s football and the top 50 for women’s football cast the votes.

The journalists rank their top five players with points awarded by the rank: first place gets six points, second place gets four, third gets three, fourth gets two and fifth gets one point.