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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 1 is slightly smaller as a result of some nominated sportspeople being ineligible:
Serge Ibaka is ineligible as he has most recently played for the Spanish National Team
Hakeem Olajuwon is ineligible as he most recently played for the USA National Team

Group 1

Hashim Amla (South Africa - Cricket - fastest player to reach 2000 - 7000 runs in ODIs, was South Africa's Test Captain from 2014 to 2016)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon - Football - 2015 African Footballer of the Year, Bundesliga Top Goalscorer 2016/17)
Manute Bol (Sudan - Basketball - Only player in NBA to have more blocked shots than score points)
Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe - Swimming - Won gold in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics)
Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia - Athletics - World Record holder for indoor 1500m, outdoor 1500m, indoor 3000m, indoor 5000m and indoor mile, IAAF World Athlete of the Year 2015)
Joel Embiid (Cameroon - Basketball - received two All-Star selections)
Michael Essien (Ghana - Football - Won Premier League with Chelsea in 2006 and 2010, as well as three FA Cups)
Andrew Flower (Zimbabwe - Cricket - Holds the record for the highest ever test score posted by a wicketkeeper batsman in an innings of a test)
Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia - Athletics - won two Olympic golds and four World Championships, broke 61 Ethiopian National Records)
Jacques Kallis (South Africa - Cricket - Only cricketer to score more than 10,000 runs and take over 250 wickets, 2008 Leading Cricketer in the World)
Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria - Football - Won Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League and Olympic Gold, alongside two African Player of the Year Awards)
Kip Keino (Kenya - Athletics - Won gold at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics, as well as three Commonwealth gold medals)
Ezekiel Kemboi (Kenya - Athletics - Won gold in the Steeplechase in four World Championships, the 2004 and 2012 Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games)
Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya - Athletics - Won the London Marathon a record four times, won gold in the 2016 Olympic Marathon)
Gary Kirsten (South Africa - Cricket - Holds the record for highest innings by a South African in a One Day International)
Roger Milla (Cameroon - Football - Scored four goals at the 1990 World Cup, oldest goalscorer in World Cup History)
Amantle Montsho (Botswana - Athletics - Won two Commonwealth Golds in the 400m , as well as one World Championship gold and three African Championship golds)
Noureddine Morceli (Algeria - Athletics - Won 1500m gold at the 1996 Olympics, won three World Championship Golds)
Maria Mutola (Mozambique - Athletics - Won 800m World Championship three times, won gold at the 2000 Olympics)
Abedi Pele (Ghana - Football - Captained the Ghana National Team, won the Champions League with Merseille)
Francois Pienaar (South Africa - Rugby - Captained South Africa to victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup)
Shaun Pollock (South Africa - Cricket - Captained South Africa, 2003 Cricketer of the Year)
Henry Rono (Kenya - Athletics - Former record holder for the 3000m Steeplechase, won two ggolds at the All-Africa Games and Commonwealth Games)
David Rudisha (Kenya - Athletics - 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion, two time World Champion and World Record holder in the 800m)
Graeme Smith (South Africa - Cricket - Made double centuries in consecutive Test matches, captain of South Africa national team)
Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eritrea - Cycling - Held polka-dot jersey in 2015 Tour de France, won it at 2015 Dauphineé)
Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast - Football - Captained Ivory Coast to victory in 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, African Footballer of the Year 2011 - 2014)
Wayde van Niekerk (South Africa - Athletics - won gold in the 2016 Olympics 400m with a World Record time, won two World Championship Golds and two African Championships)
George Weah (Liberia - Football - Won Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year, top scorer of the 1994/95 Champions League)

Get voting!