Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) president Michael Ricketts saluted Reggae Girl and Manchester City striker Khadija “Bunny” Shaw on her latest accomplishment of being voted the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) Women’s Player of the Year for the 2023-24 season.

Shaw won the women’s Footballer of the Year award with 80 per cent of the voters opting for either the Manchester City striker or Chelsea’s Lauren James. James finished runner-up with another Manchester City standout Alex Greenwood finishing third. Yui Hasegawa, Elisabeth Terland and Khiara Keating completed the top six.

In a release on Friday, Ricketts pointed out that the award spoke volumes of Shaw's impact on Manchester City's Women's Super League charge, as she has been a model of consistency since joining the Gareth Taylor-coached club in 2021. Her performances have placed Manchester City on the brink of securing their first WSL title since 2016.

“This award is a beautiful feather in her cap and a massive advertisement for Jamaica’s football,” Ricketts said.

“I am happy to see the consistency in quality shown by Khadija. She has always been a top player, but her standard has risen a notch this season. This augurs well for the national team in the future. We wish her all the best on the road to recovery,” he added.

Prior to Shaw sustaining a broken foot during her last Women’s Super League match against West Ham, the Reggae Girls captain scored 21 goals, which were complemented by three assists in 18 games this season.

Shaw is the third Jamaican-born individual to have won the award after John Barnes (1987-88, 1989-90) and Raheem Sterling in 2019.

However, she is the first national representative to receive the honour, as both Barnes and Sterling were England internationals when they earned the recognition.

Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz 2-1 loss to Canada on Tuesday, was Head Coach Lorne Donaldson’s last match in charge of the Jamaica Senior Women’s Football squad as according to the Jamaica Football Federation, his contract will not be renewed.

Donaldson was appointed Reggae Girlz head coach in June 2022 and led the national women’s team to their second consecutive qualification for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. At the World Cup, he took Jamaica to a historic round of 16 after drawing with France and Brazil and defeating Panama in the group stage.

The Reggae Girlz eventually bowed out following a 1-0 loss to Colombia.

The Reggae Girlz suffered back-to-back losses to Canada in a failed bid to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris but the progress the team has made under his leadership is without question. However, according to the JFF, following a meet with the coach, whose contract comes to an end on September 30, they will be looking for a new head coach.

“The Jamaica Football Federation and Coach Lorne Donaldson had a meeting to discuss his contract as the Senior Women's Team coach. After an extended discussion, both parties came to an agreement that the contract would not be renewed,” the JFF said in a statement Friday.

“The JFF wishes to place on record, our thanks to Lorne for his services to Jamaica's football over the years, and specially making us proud at the recent Women’s World Cup, held in Australia and New Zealand, and we are confident that he will have unlimited success in his future endeavors and wish him the very best.”

The development means the Reggae Girlz will be without a head coach for the upcoming CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup qualifying matches in less than a month. However, the JFF states, “We will immediately put the machinery in place to have competent staff in place for this important competition.”

The Jamaica Football Federation has accepted an invitation from Football Australia which could see the World Cup-bound Reggae Girls participating in the 2023 edition of the Cup of Nations tournament.

The four-team women's tournament will take place in Sydney within the FIFA window, February 13 to 25. Home team Australia won the inaugural edition in 2019; with Argentina, South Korea and New Zealand the other participants.

There are two other FIFA windows in March and early July before the Women’s World Cup gets underway in Australia and New Zealand from July 20. 

Jamaica will look to play International friendly games in all the windows in 2023 as they prepare for the World Cup and the Olympic qualifiers against Canada next September.