Bayern Munich’s Sadio Mane, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy nominated for the CAF men’s player of the year 2022
Sadio Mane, the reigning African champion and Player of the Year, has been named to the final three-man list for the 2022 CAF Player of the Year Award. After an impressive 2021/22 season in which he inspired his national team to win the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) trophy in Cameroon and also helped Senegal qualify for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup at the expense of Egypt, Senegal forward will be on the podium once more.
The now-Bayern Munich forward will compete against former club teammate Mohamed Salah as well as international teammate Edouard Mendy for his second African Footballer of the Year Award.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF), the Awards’ organisers, announced the final three-man shortlist on Wednesday morning via an official press statement on their website, ahead of the awards gala on Thursday. CAF has thus reduced the previous 10-man shortlist to just three players who have been judged to be the best on the continent in the last year.
Salah, who won the award in 2018, is up for it again after finishing second to Mane in the 2019 edition. Senegalese goalkeeper Mendy is the first goalkeeper to make the final three-man shortlist since Nigerian Vincent Enyeama in 2014.
Former Liverpool player Sadio Mane is the bookies’ favourite to retain the CAF African Footballer of the year
Former Liverpool teammates Salah and Mane will compete for the same title again in 2022 when the CAF African Footballer of the Year awards are held. Both forwards met in the 2021 AFCON final in February, with Senegal clinching the title after Mane scored the decisive penalty that gave the Aliou Cisse-led team a long-awaited AFCON trophy.
Senegal and Egypt met again a month later in the final round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. Senegal edged out the North Africans for a spot in the World Cup, with Mane playing a key role once again.
Mane, who is now at Bayern Munich, will try to beat Salah again this year, as the Senegalese talisman aims to become the first Senegalese player to win back-to-back African Footballer of the Year awards since El Hadji Diouf in 2000 and 2001.
Read More: Liverpool fans unfairly blamed for Champions League 2022-23 final chaos in Paris: Reports
Sujeeth Shetty
(766 Articles Published)