Brave Gladiators head coach Jacqueline Shipanga will have a crucial say in the 2016 Glo-Confederation of African Football (CAF) awards as a member of the third Electoral College in the newly expanded network of voting with the constitution of the electoral colleges. Voting for the 2016 Glo CAF awards have four groups of voting colleges namely, the CAF Media Committee (College 1), the Technical and Development Committee (College 2), the Panel of Experts (College 3) and the fourth electoral college being the 54 National Associations (College 4 which is the Head coaches of National A teams or National Technical Directors) well as well Reunion and Zanzibar. Shipanga, whose technical expertise has been widely used by CAF and FIFA at numerous occasions, is a member of the 20-member Panel of Experts (journalists and TV consultants) which also have other Southern Africa experts in Mark Gleeson and Velile Mbuli, both from South Africa. The Technical and Development Committee has 13 members including Cosafa President Suketu Patel, Zambian legend Kalusha Bwalya and Khalilou Fadiga of Senegal. The CAF Media Committee is led by Ghanaian FA President Kwesi Nyantakyi. Shipanga expressed her appreciation for being part of these historic awards: “This is something very special to me. Something I would cherish forever. This are continental awards and for me to be involved at this high level means so much. Will do my level best in my contribution. This goes to show the impact of our development and exposure. Thank you NFA and CAF for the trust and belief”, Shipanga says. For the two main awards, the African Player of the Year and Africa of the Year-based in Africa, all four components of the Electoral Colleges will be involved in the selection process which has been classified into two phases. Colleges one, two and three will be involved in phases one whilst colleges four and half of three for phases two and for the other awards categories only one, two and three will take part in the selection of the eventual winners, caf says in a statement. The Glo-CAF 2016 awards Gala will be held on Thursday, 05 January 2017 in Abuja, Nigeria. CAF on Saturday released a 30-men list for the African Player of the Year award lead by ward holder Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon Dortmund) and includes Itumelang Khune of Kaizer Chiefs and South Africa as well as Dennis Onyango of Mamelodi Sundowns and Uganda, and teammates Kama Billiat of Zimbabwe and Keegan Dolly of South Africa and William Jebor of Liberia and Wydad Athletic Club and as the only African-based players in the list. The African Player of the Year-based in Africa has 25 players on the list.