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[PeteFromLeeds]

Welcome to the World Cup of Sportspeople! With the Women's Football World Cup in full swing just finished and the Men's World Cup being a resounding success last year, we'll be following on with a tournament, not of countries, but of the sports-men and women themselves. This contest is designed to select the greatest sportspeople from each continent through a number of rounds, selecting the best of the best, and pitting them together to show who we really think is the best sportsperson of them all!

This is the Voting stage for Africa. We received 65 different nominations in all - taking away our auto-qualifier, Didier Drogba, this gives us two groups of 32/33 players*. Here's how this stage is going to work.

- You can vote for up to 20 sportspeople, but you must vote for at least 10.
- You must rank your votes in order of preference, either by numbering or by the standard Buzzjack +20, +19 ... +1 (Or down to however many you vote for)
- You must vote for sportspeople from at least three different sports
- You must vote for at least one male and one female sportsperson.
- Each sportsperson has been given a short description of their major achievements to make it easier for you to make up your mind.
- The seven sportspeople with the most votes in each group will advance to the Final, whilst the three next highest players will advance to the Intercontinental Playoffs. Everyone else will be booted out.

*Group 2 is slightly smaller as a result of some nominated sportspeople being ineligible:
Victor Oladipo was born in America and classes himself as American
Kirani James most recently competed for Grenada

Group 2

Said Aouita (Morocco - Athletics - Won 5000m at the Summer Olympics, former world record holder of 1500m, 2000m, 3000m and 50000m)
Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia - Athletics - World Record holder for 5000m and 10,000m, most successful runner in World Cross Country Championships with a total of 10 titles)
Zola Budd (South Africa - Athletics - broke the World Record in the womens' 5000m, two-time World Cross Country Championships winner)
Vivian Cheruiyot (Kenya - Athletics - African champion in 2010, won 5000m Olympic gold in 2012)
AB de Villiers (South Africa - Cricket - Named ODI Player of the Year three times, captained South Africa)
Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia - Athletics - 5000m outdoors World Record holder, won three Olympic golds and five World Championship golds)
Allan Donald (South Africa - Cricket - topped the ICC Test rankings in 1998)
Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco - Athletics - Outdoor 1500m, 200m and mile World Record holder, two Olympic Golds and 4 World Championship golds)
Ernie Els (South Africa - Golf - 71 career victories, won the US Open and the Open Championship twice)
Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon - Football - Won La Liga three times with Barcelona, won African Cup of Nations twice)
Frankie Fredericks (Namibia - Athletics - Won four silvers in the Olympic Games, won gold in the 1993 World Indoor Championships)
Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa - Cricket - First player to hit six consecutive sixes in one over in ODI cricket)
Asamoah Gyan (Ghana - Soccer - All-time top goalscorer of the Ghana national team, top African goalscorer in the history of the World Cup)
Lauren (Cameroon - Football - Won Premier League undefeated with Arsenal, won Olympic Gold and two African Cup of Nations)
Chad Le Clos (South Africa - Swimming - Won gold in the 2012 Olympics, has 14 World Championships golds and 7 Commonwealth golds)
Taoufik Makhloufi (Algeria - Athletics - Won gold in the 2012 Olympics, 2011 African Games and 2012 African Championships)
Issac Makwala (Botswana - Athletics - Won two Commonwealth golds and 2 African Games golds)
Sadio Mané (Senegal - Football - Won Champions League with Liverpool in 2019, 2018 Premier League Golden Boot)
Perrie Mans (South Africa - Snooker - Won the South African Professional Championship 19 times, reached the Final of the 1978 World Championships)
Francoise Mbango Etone (Cameroon - Athletics - Hold Olympic Record for the triple-jump, two Olympic golds)
Dikembe Mutombo (Congo - Basketball - Won NBA Defensive Player of the Year award four times)
John Obi Mikel (Nigeria - Football - Played for Chelsea and Nigeria, won Africa Cup of Nations in 2013)
Oscar Pistorius (South Africa - Track & Field - Won 6 Olympic gold medals)
Gary Player (South Africa - Golf - 163 professional wins, won 9 Major Championships)
Jonty Rhodes (South Africa - Cricket - Commonly held as the greatest fielder of all time)
Mohamed Salah (Egypt - Football - 2018 Premier League top goalscorer, broke Premier League scoring record)
Charl Schwartzel (South Africa - Golf - Won the Masters in 2011)
Jody Schecketer (South Africa - Formula One - Won Drivers' Championship in 1979, won 10 Grand Prix races)
Dale Steyn (South Africa - Cricket - Best bowling strike rate of all time in Test Match cricket, 2008 Test Cricketer of the Year)
Paul Tergat (Kenya - Athletics - Set the World Record for the Marathon, two Olympic silvers and five World Cross Country golds)
Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast - Football - Won Premier League with Manchester City and Arsenal, second most-capped player for Premier League)
Derartu Tulu (Ethiopia - Athletics - Won two Olympic golds and one World Championship)

The deadline is 23:59 Sunday 21st July. Get voting!